Bloody Ties
by NintendoGal55
Summary: Naruto & Friday The 13th X-over. An occult group of ninjas from an obscure village bring forth Jason Voorhees, the killer of Camp Crystal Lake, to kill among the Shinobi Villages. But when things get out of hand, it's up to Naruto and his group to help.
1. Enter Jason

Hey folks, I've got a little something different today! A little _Naruto_ and _Friday The 13__th_ crossover. I freaking LOVE crossovers. :D Which is why _Freddy VS Jason_ was so epic.

For the sake of the story to work, it'll be as if the _Naruto _world took place in the real world. It's still the regular _Naruto_ universe, of course, just with a twist.

Anyway, so the story is that an occult group, who are made of exiled Ninjas from a distant country that's very obscure, want to bring a fearful attack on the Shinobi countries. Starting of course, with Konoha. They bring Jason Voorhees to life, whom they stumble upon while on their search. And unleash him to Konoha. He proceeds to bring fear on the village, killing off "naughty" teenagers.

Naruto and his friends catch on to this, and are now out to get him. Soon, with a little outside help, it's Jason vs Naruto and his friends. With many discoveries, it becomes a world of bloody ties.

All characters, references, including canon and original, all belong to their respectful owners. All original characters/references are mine, with the exception of one or two OC's belonging to a couple of friends. I do not own any of the Naruto characters/references, I do not own Jason Voorhees or any references to _Friday The 13__th_

Man, I just hope I can capture Jason as well as my friend Buddy Michelle can. She does it so well, I swear to God. Luckily, I know him a bit better now, and thanks to a couple of recent RP's we've done, I've gotten to know how he thinks a bit better. Not to mention _Freddy VS Jason_.

Warning: Language, violence, and gore.

--

Inside of a deep, underground cavern hidden away from the rest of the world up above, a few candles were lit around a small, yet specious room. It served as some kind of a meeting place, or a shrine.

A table lay in the centre, adorned with maps, scrolls, and other various notes, along with a couple of candles to add more light. Not much else was in the room, other than the table.

Around the table sat a few men, all of which wearing Shinobi forehead protectors of a village that would likely pose as unfamiliar to anyone who would see the symbol. The symbol consisted of a very long triangle pointing downward. There were seven of them, wearing similar clothing, which were gray long-sleeved tops with black belts around the waist, blue pants, and around their necks were black chokers.

One of them, however, had two red sashes across his chest and wore a layer of bandages around his head. It wasn't for injuries, but more of a fashion statement. He appeared to be the ring leader, given the additions to his outfit. His name Fujisaki Kyoharu, and he had light auburn hair and amber eyes.

"All right, men. So we're all met?" Fujisaki said, looking among the other six.

The one on his left, Himetsu Hikeko, nodded. "Yes, sir. All present are accounted for."

Fujisaki nodded. "Good. Then we can begin, to the first order of our business. You do remember our objective, correct?"

The man on his right, Yakita Orokishi nodded his head. "Yes, Boss. We are to send out any means necessary to truly bring down the five Great Shinobi villages. Most especially, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Konoha."

"You are quite right, good work." Said Fujisaki, placing his hand on a map. "With our efforts, we will not be stopped. However...there is one thing. It's foolish if we just make the plans to attack and go straight in. No, we cannot do that. Am I right?"

Everyone nodded.

"You are correct, Boss." Said Himetsu.

"I'm glad you see it that way." Fujisaki smirked in satisfaction and straightened. "Now then, before we fully initialize our great plan, we are going to need some help. Himetsu, present to the rest, our prime target in this."

Himetsu stood straight, and produced a documented photo. It was of a hulking figure holding a machete, wearing a Hockey mask. Below, stated a name:

**Jason Voorhees**

--

"No...! No! Please, don't kill me! No! Please!" Screamed the young woman, raising her hands up in a useless shield.

Jason Voorhees completely ignored her pleas for help and swiftly brought down his machete with such swift speed, her life was ended before he even could have blinked. Her throat slit far and wide, with blood spewing out of the wound like a rushing fountain.

Satisfied with his work in getting rid of the naughty trespassers who dared set foot in Camp Crystal Lake, Jason turned to slowly head back toward the cabins, to also make sure he didn't miss any. Sometimes he would succeed in getting any that he may have missed, and sometimes not.

It was shameful, and the same damn thing. Every person to deal with deserved to be punished, for being so naughty. Most especially those counselors, which led to his untimely demise.

A sound was heard behind him, and Jason turned. Was there someone else out there? Not taking chances, he turned around, and came to see none other than his mother, Pamela Voorhees.

"Jason...my precious, special boy...there is something you must do for me." Pamela said to him, smiling brightly with a gleam of determination in her eyes.

Jason tilted his head, listening to her respectfully.

"Go to the five Great Shinobi Villages...the children there, they've been quite naughty, Jason..." Pamela said, gesturing to the west. "Go, Jason...and do not leave a single rock unturned. Give them what they deserve."

Looking to where his mother was pointing, it was quite obvious that Jason was confused. Go? Go where? Where were these places? Would he have to leave the camp?

"Go there, Jason...and then come back to mommy, I'll be waiting....make me proud, my precious son... Go to Konoha...the Village Hidden in the Leaves...start there." Pamela slowly faded away.

Still very confused, Jason scratched his head. He wasn't sure why his mother wanted him to go to such a foreign place, or even how to get there. It was obviously important, if she was making him go there.

Carefully sheathing his machete, the Hockey masked slasher slowly stalked through the forest as he tried to find some kind of an answer to what his mother was telling him. Maybe she was warning him of future trespassers?

--

From the swirling image of the crystalline ball, Fujisaki smirked with satisfaction as he watched Jason wandering toward the cabins, confused and wondering what he had to do next. He did have to act fast, in case he would forget. But this was his mother, and he never disobeyed his mother.

"Genjutsu successful...man, he really is easy to manipulate. We can sure use his brain condition to our advantage, boys." He said. "And now, we must get him here. Himetsu, you have the scroll, I presume?"

Himetsu nodded, producing a rolled scroll from his pocket, which he handed to his boss. Taking it, Fujisaki unrolled it and carefully unrolled it across the table. He made a few handseals, before slapping his open palm onto the scroll. The ink of the inscription along it then glowed from black to bright orange, as if coming to life.

"Come to us, and spread your reign of terror, come forth, and bring death and no mercy! Come, Jason Voorhees!"

--

Before Jason could utter a blink, he took one more step and then found himself at one end of a long bridge. It was instantaneous, how he suddenly ended up at the foot of a bridge in a matter of seconds, and also a bridge he didn't even know. He could see now, this was not Camp Crystal Lake.

Jason looked around curiously, his hand resting on the handle of his machete, just in case. He was certain something was going on, but of course, he just didn't understand. What was going on? Where was he? And more importantly, how in the world did he get here? He surely didn't remember walking here. He might have been severely mentally handicapped, but even he knew there was no way he could get to an unfamiliar place in just one step, when he could see right in front of him was nothing more than tracts of forest. Now he was standing at a bridge, which was there, clear as day.

With no other option to turn to, he decided to see where he was, and what the hell was going on. He took a few steps on the bridge and hesitated, looking down to the side, toward the water. It appeared to be a stream, and not very deep, either. Still, Jason avoided any kind of body of water like the plague. Taking one more step, Jason slowly crossed the bridge.

Wherever he was, he was going to make sure to do as his mother had asked him. Even if he had to travel for days to find this village, known as Konoha. And do away with any naughty person, deserving to be punished.

Although he still didn't understand why his mother wanted him to go to such a place. It had to be pretty important.

Up further ahead near a hill, he saw three children around 12, accompanied by a young adult no older than 18 or 19. The young adult was talking to the children, who were all nodding and looking excited. They then went off and started practicing some strange movements, which he guessed was some kind of martial arts, and even sometimes they would make weird gestures with their hands.

Jason paused in his walk and stared, tilting his head slightly. He was glad someone was finally responsible enough to actually watch the children, and not off drinking or meeting someone to do naughty things. Seeing nothing wrong there, he went on his merry little way.

But when he passed a nearby tree, he spied two young adults wearing the same uniform as the first young adult he saw, and he could see now that they were having sex standing up. As if that wasn't bad enough, he could see past the rest of the trees that three young children, also around 11 or 12, several yards away out of earshot. One of them, the girl, had fallen down and was crying, and the two boys were unsure of what to do. And these two perfectly able young adults weren't even paying attention to them.

His eyes narrowed through the eyeholes of his Hockey mask. They needed to be punished. Not watching the children when it was their responsibility, and meeting with each other on top of that. Jason approached the couple, smoothly pulling the machete out of its sheath.

The girl, having opened her eyes, suddenly saw Jason behind the man, and let out a frightened screech. Before the boy could turn around, Jason thrust the machete through them both with such incredible speed. It even pierced through the bark.

Once they were dead, Jason pulled his machete out, with a little bit of difficulty, and looked at the blood now staining it. He shrugged his broad shoulders lightly and then slowly walked off just as the other adult and children were coming toward the scene.

It wasn't long until Jason reached the village. Konoha.


	2. Lessons

I've already stated the disclaimer. Don't make me do it again.

--~~--

Smirking in satisfaction, Fujiaki sat back in his chair as he continued to stare into the swirling crystalline ball, showing the vision of Jason heading toward Konoha. Not to mention the killing he had just committed.

"Hmm, it's quite strange he didn't attack that other ninja, Kimehawa-sensei and his students." Fujisaki remarked. "Oh well, at least it works to bring attention to his rather formidable killings."

"Right, Boss." Said Himetsu. "What will we do next?"

Chuckling in an ominous manner, Fujisaki leaned over the table, his eyes on the ball, watching the Hockey masked slasher wandering around in his confused daze. He lay his chin on his hands, grinning. "We wait, my good man. We wait."

--

"So guys, you ready?" Naruto said eagerly to his friends that were all gathered about.

"Ready, Naruto!" Sakura cajoled, pulling on her gloves.

"You bet I am, no question!" Kiba declared.

"As ready as I will ever be, Naruto! I have never felt so much more pumped than I am right now!" Lee declared, throwing his fist into the air.

Neji rolled his eyes at his fellow teammate, but nodded. "I'm ready too, Naruto."

"Yeah yeah, I'm ready." Shikamaru sighed. "Man, this is such a drag."

"Don't be such a Downer, Shikamaru!"

"Whatever."

"I'm also ready." Shino said, pushing his sunglasses further up his nose.

Naruto grinned happily. "Good! Now we just gotta wait for Teah-nee-chan and then we can be on our way!"

"It's odd for her to be late." Neji remarked. "Did she say why?"

"Nah, I think she might've been delayed?" Naruto guessed.

--

Wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead, Teah took a breath as she was exiting the training grounds. Before embarking on the mission with the others, she had decided to squeeze in some extra training.

"Hope I won't be too late...can't set an example like Kakashi-sensei." Teah said to herself. "Oh well."

Toward the entranceway leading from the training grounds into the village, she then passed by Jason's hulking figure as they were going toward the same direction.

She looked up at him, and could hardly believe how tall he was, especially compared to her 5'9" stature. He was incredibly tall, probably a few inches short of seven feet. (Note: Jason is 6'6", in case you wanted to know)

On top of that, he wore a Hockey mask. A quirk, maybe?

_Jeez, who ISN'T wearing a mask these days?_ She thought. _I can only imagine why._

She could see he didn't have any hair, and a very bulbous head. Through the eyeholes of the mask, she caught sight of droopy brown eyes, looking down at her. Their eyes met, and she then kept going without much of a second glance. Although the machete in his hand didn't go unnoticed to her.

All Jason could think about was the fact that she had the strangest coloured eyes he had ever seen. He had no quarrel with her, so he just let her be on her way as he too made his way inside. A sign nearby indicated an arrow pointing toward what stated "Konoha Main Square".

--

"Sorry I'm late, guys." Teah said as she walked up to the group. "I, uh...decided to get a little training done before we headed out."

"Ah, no problem!" Naruto assured her, waving it off dismissively. "We've still got time before sundown. Let's go, off to the Hirenshi Village!"

Everyone gave a nod and they started to head toward the village gate, where they would meet up with Kakashi and Yamato, and they would embark to the Hirenshi Village that was northwest of Konoha. It was a fairly dangerous area, and although Tsunade would normally send more elite ninjas, it was by special request of the village's elderly Shamaness, Himekara Ujimoto, that she have an audience with the Princess of the Northern Mountain region, which was Teah herself, so Tsunade figured it would work out better to send Naruto and his friends, along with Kakashi and Yamato to escort her. She had no doubt in their strengths, and knew that this would indeed be beneficial in growing stronger as a ninja.

Because of the dangers lurking near the village, especially toward outsiders, it was always best to be sent in numbers, which was why Tsunade decided to also send Kiba, Sakura, Neji, Lee and Shikamaru along with Naruto. When Naruto had overheard Tsunade speaking of this mission, he had begged her to let him escort his friend. It was the closest thing to actually escorting Royalty, since he was good friends with her and all.

Naruto glanced at the Uchiha as he noticed her looking a little dazed, and would sometimes glance around nervously.

"What's up, Teah-nee-chan? You look a little dazed today." Naruto remarked.

"Huh?" Teah looked toward Naruto, and then forced a smile. "Oh, it's nothing. I'm just thinking."

_I wish I could say it was nothing. But I can't get my mind off that guy wearing the Hockey mask. There was something about him I couldn't put my finger on. And that machete...._ Teah sighed and shook her head of long black hair. _Get over it, Teah. It was probably nothing. You're overreacting, just because he's a little...well, different._

"Well you sure look spaced out today!" Naruto remarked. "Thinking of a certain someone named Sasuke?"

Deciding to take that safe route and not cause worry, she just nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking of him."

"Awww, don't worry, we all miss him!" The blonde brought his arm around her shoulders, despite her being taller. "And we'll get him back, believe it!"

Teah blushed a little and smiled. "You're right. I have faith, no matter how much it may slip."

"That's the spirit, Teah-nee-chan!" Naruto grinned, and looked up just as Jason walked by them. "Whoa! What a tall guy!" He waved. "Hey, nice mask! Practicing for Halloween?"

Teah's complexion became paler than normal and grabbed a nearby newspaper to hide her face.

Jason glanced at Naruto, studying him for a moment, and caught the waving gesture. He didn't understand what Naruto was saying, but it didn't sound like he was insulting. Not sure what else to do, Jason lifted his hand in greeting before he continued on.

"Wow, that guy sure is tall!" Naruto remarked. "Must be seven feet, I bet! And here I thought YOU were tall. Man, that guy takes the cake! Wonder why he's wearing a mask...could he be like Kakashi-sensei? And why didn't he talk?" He turned to his friend. "Teah-nee-chan? What's with the newspaper?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, nothing." Teah lowered it. _I don't get it. Why do I feel nervous and scared? Jeez, get a hold of yourself. _"I was just bored."

Naruto didn't buy it, but he decided to humour her anyway. "Whatever you say!"

--

"That was...that was the Princess he had passed!" Fujisaki exclaimed, jumping up from his seat to stand as he looked into the visionary crystalline ball set there on the table. "Orivia Uchiha...the Princess of the mountain region to the north of the Fire Country...that was her, no mistake. And Jason didn't kill her!"

"Boss, that was also the vessel of the Nine-Tailed Fox." Himetsu pointed out.

"And the Nine-Tails! Damn it!" Fujisaki nearly ripped at his bandage. "What is he doing?! Jason is supposed to wreak havoc, but he hasn't done a thing so far! Damn it, what is wrong with him?!"

"Maybe he has his own Agenda, Boss. His mother's orders to kill off all those naughty kinds of teenagers." Yakita suggested.

With a heavy sigh, Fujisaki sat back in his chair. "Then we had better hope that someone will stir up that very situation."

"Right, boss." Himetsu said with a nod.

--

Walking along a fairly quiet, residential area of the village, Jason wandered around to try to find something to do. Although he was in a new place, with new people and new things to do, he was quite bored. Nothing had happened since his first killing.

Well he did do the deed, didn't he? Maybe it was time he went back=

"You were supposed to be watching your brother and sister, and you actually went out to drink, meet a girl, AND come home late?! You're going to be punished, son."

Jason paused in his tracks and stared toward the house, seeing a father and a teenage son no older than 17 on the front lawn.

"Fuck you dad, I need some space you know!" Said the teenage son, Hikoshi. "I don't have time to watch those stupid spawns of hell! They're big, they can take care of themselves!"

"I don't believe you, Hikoshi." His father sighed, going into the house.

Jason continued to watch through the leaves, and then he walked away, turning back to take one last look.

Taking a breath, Hikoshi sat on the front lawn, taking out a bottle from his bag. It was a bottle of Konoha Red Hot Whiskey, very high quality. He took a long, good drink from the bottle.

Unbelievable. He was supposed to be watching his younger brother and sister, and he was _drinking. _The temptation was too much for Jason by now.

With his machete in hand, his droopy eyes narrowing behind his mask, Jason went in and approached.

Completely oblivious, Hikoshi continued to drink down the whiskey with a very contended sigh.

"Ah yeah, this is the life baby. Nothing can stop me n-"

His sentence was cut off when Jason's large, gloved hand yanked him up to his feet by his hair and before Hikoshi could properly scream, the gleaming blade of his machete instantly came into view and stabbed him right in the throat. With a choked gasp and coughing up blood, the teen shook hard and then went limp.

With his rather inhuman strength, Jason easily tossed him aside onto the ground before he walked off.


	3. Killing Time

Did anyone ever see the second _Friday The 13__th_movie? I just finished watching it sometime today (as I'm writing this), and if you don't want spoilers, don't read on!

The way Jason was in this movie really disappointed me. Of course he held up his reputation, but what I mean is the way he was designed. The only thing they got right was the fact that he had a bulbous head. He didn't have his full height, or his bulging muscles! That was just sad. He looked more like a freaking Hillbilly hick.

And he didn't have his super special awesome Hockey mask, either. Nah, he just wore a bag of some sort over his head with a couple of eye holes. Oh, and he had hair. Lots more than he usually does. At least he had his machete. Even if he used a pitchfork a lot.

And he recoiled when he was faced with an electric hand saw. That was not right! He's not afraid of anything except water! Jeez. And this is the same guy who had his fingers sliced off, and just looked down at them like "Oh, well that sucks."

Well, now I know they were pretty much experimenting and fooling around with his image before they got to where they are now. I can understand that. There's a lot of loopholes and complications here and there too.

Oh, and I need to watch/read some earlier episodes. I don't know Yamato that well, and I can't find a profile on him. Oh well.

Also, the first bit of the first killing scene of this chapter is actually based on a scene in the movie _Freddy VS Jason._ I love that scene. XD

Anyway, moving on!

--~~--

"So I take it you're all ready to go?" Kakashi said coolly, but he was smiling behind his mask.

"You bet we are!" Naruto said excitedly. "How often do we get to escort Royalty to someplace?"

Kakashi chuckled. "I see. Well, then let's be off before it gets too dark. If we leave now, we should reach the village in a couple of hours."

"Right. Let's go then." Yamato nodded.

The rest of them all nodded in unison and they walked off beyond the gates of the village, determined and ready to complete this mission. It would be tough, but it was going to be a piece of cake for them.

As they were leaving, a couple of ANBU members were talking with a couple of the guards by the gate, in a heated discussion about a murder that had occurred earlier at the training grounds.

Naruto paused to listen, trying to catch what they were saying.

"....not sure how....with some kind of sharp weapon..."

"....Jounin....Tamahiko....Haruka.....very odd....no leads.....a lot of blood..."

".... no signs of chakra....children....footprints....no trace of anything..."

"Naruto? Naruto, are you coming?" Sakura's voice suddenly interrupted his train of thought.

Blinking, Naruto looked toward the rosette, and nodded. "Oh, yeah! Sorry, I got a little distracted. Let's go!" He turned and went to catch up with them as they went on ahead.

Kakashi and Yamato exchanged conversation as the group headed further from the village, while Sakura chatted with Lee and Neji, and Kiba was trying to get the still lazy Shikamaru to play 20 Questions with him. Naruto on the other hand, was unable to stop thinking about what he had overheard. Some kind of murder, but there was no trace, or signs of chakra having been used.

He didn't understand it, but why did it seem like such a big deal? Obviously, it was likely that it was because two jounin were murdered, and any murdered ninja was something to look into when they were no leads, and most especially when it had occurred right in their own village.

_I don't get it...what happened?_ Naruto thought, frowning a little as he looked down toward the ground. _Who could've done it? And if they had no chakra, was it really some kind of psycho civilian? But most of all, why? How?_

He wanted to get in on the case and see what was happening, but he couldn't do that right now. He and his friends had a job to do for now.

Teah glanced toward Naruto, and could clearly see he was lost in thought about something. She was curious as to what he was thinking, but was pretty certain he wouldn't tell her if she'd ask. It did seem big, if Naruto was thinking so hard about it.

"Naruto, are you all right?" She asked him.

"Huh? What?" Naruto looked toward her, and smiled. "Oh yeah, I'm fine! No need to worry your pretty little head, Teah-nee-chan! I was just thinking of something."

"Will you tell me?" Teah asked with a smile.

Naruto hesitated, biting his lip. He didn't want to worry her, especially since they had to get her to and from the village safely, and he feared that her being worried would compromise the whole mission. And in case it was really just nothing big to wallow over, he didn't want to be responsible for such a thing. He knew she would be worried, since Konoha was almost a second Kingdom to her, since it was her home for now.

But then again, if he didn't warn her... Well, that was never the best idea, not being there to warn someone of danger, even at first sight. Oh well, maybe he should tell her.

"Well, on the way out, I overheard something about a murder that happened to two jounin in the training grounds." Naruto admitted. "These two ANBU guards were talking to the gate guys about it."

Teah's black eyebrows raised to her hairline. "A murder? Oh goodness...what do you think happened?"

"I don't know, I didn't catch all of it." Naruto sighed. "I just know that something happened out there, and I don't know if it's a big deal or not. All they seem to know is that the killer used a sharp weapon, and didn't have any signs of chakra. And also, no trace of the killer either."

"That's terrible." Teah frowned a little. "Well, we'll have to keep our eyes peeled and stay on guard, in case something like this happens again. We can look more into it when we get back."

"I bet I can get Tsunade to tell us!" Naruto winked at her. "Believe it!"

Teah blushed a little, looking away. "I believe it, Naruto."

_--_

It was getting later in the day, with the hour of twilight slowly approaching. So far, despite being in a public area, not much seemed to be happening.

Trying to keep in the shadows, or at least as inconspicuous as possible, Jason continued to wander about the village, searching for any potential targets, and not to mention trying to get to know the place. But of course, after probably a couple of minutes, he would forget what he was trying to do in the first place.

Passing by a Tavern that had recently opened up, a few teenage boys no older than 18 were sitting outside with cigarettes in their mouths, and bottles of beer. It was pretty obvious that they'd either used fake ID's, or had some older accomplice get in to get the Konoha Beer for them.

Smoking, and underage drinking. That was two strikes, and put together, no less.

"Hey man, look over that weirdo!" Said the red-haired one, pointing toward Jason as he was slowly approaching them. "Must some kind of drifter!"

"Aw yeah, man! Look at them clothes!" The black-haired one laughed. "I'll bet he didn't have a decent bath in a month!"

"Hey Mister Big Hockey Mask, your village called, they want their homeless freak back!" The blonde one said with a drunken laugh.

"What's wrong, tough guy? Got nothin' to say?" The redhead poked Jason on the chest with each word, even though Jason towered over all them. "What, you some kind of mute?"

Strike three.

Jason then grabbed the boy's head with both of his large, gloved hands, and turned it around 360, so that he was facing _behind_! It made a sickening crack, with his expression frozen in disbelief and shock. He then poked him in the chest and he fell right down like a pole.

The blonde and ravenet both gaped in shock, unable to believe what had just happened. Getting panicked, the blonde took his bottle of beer and smashed it against Jason, who in turn looked down as it happened, completely unfazed.

The raven then grabbed an iron bar laying nearby and struck Jason in the head with it. Jason slowly turned his head to look at him, and then reached out to grab the iron from his hands. Before the raven could move, the iron was shoved swiftly through his stomach, which caused him to gasp and cough up blood. But before he could do anything else, his vision was lined with Jason's large, dark boot coming right at his face. The force was so strong, it cracked his head and sent him flying.

Nervous and scared, the blonde tried to back away, throwing random objects at the Hockey masked slasher, who wasn't at all affected by them. Jason followed him, slowly drawing his machete from its sheath, the blade gleaming in the remaining sunlight.

"W-What are you!?? Oh God please don't! Please!! I gotta-"

Jason swiftly stabbed him into a nearby wall, which happened so fast that it was almost in a blur. The blonde gasped and cried out before going limp, dead. He pulled the machete out, and then turned to continue off down the street.

"HEY! You there! We saw what you did?! What's the big idea, killing our friends?!" Came a loud voice from behind.

"Yeah man, what's your problem!?"

Jason slowly turned around, facing two teenage boys who were obviously friends of the three he had just killed.

"We'll get you for that!" Said one of them.

"Y-Yeah! You ain't so tough!"

Tilting his head, Jason just stared at them, as if trying to understand them. People were so confusing sometimes.

"Yaaaah! Take this!" One of them shot a kunai at him, which stabbed him in the shoulder.

As if he were a robot, Jason turned his head and looked at the kunai, and then reached up and withdrew it with relative ease. He studied it for a moment, and then turned his attention back to the two boys, who were now hurrying off. And of course, he stomped after them, his anger level rising.

As he was chasing, a young child came in the middle of the road, and Jason stopped walking, staring down at the child and a little puppy. The child giggled happily.

"I love you, Mr. McStuffles!" He said to his puppy. He then looked up and saw Jason, and smiled. "Hey, mister! Boy, you're tall! I like your mask!"

The puppy went over and sniffed Jason's boot, then sat back and looked up at him, panting with his tongue hanging out. Jason tilted his head as he regarded them both.

"Well, see you later, mister! We have to get home now! Bye!" The child and his puppy continued off toward a nearby residential area.

Jason smiled a little behind his mask as he watched the child and his puppy walk off, but his attention was then grabbed by the two boys he was chasing.

"Good! Now let's get the fuck out of here!"

Getting back on track, Jason continued after them. One of them tripped over a discarded brick on the ground and fell over. He scrambled to keep going and get up, but Jason reached him, looking down at him with his eyes narrowing in the eyeholes of his mask.

Before he could react, Jason swiftly stepped on his body, and since he was 275 pounds of muscle, it was quite an impact. He then used his machete and slit across his throat for extra measure.

The other teen was still running, and Jason threw his machete at him with such swift, and it stabbed him right in the back in the heart. For a man with hydrocephalus, he had excellent aim.

The teen fell to the ground, dead. Jason walked over to him, and calmly withdrew his machete from the carcase, and then returned to go find a quiet and serene spot to be able to stalk his prey without being seen.

--

"Yes...yes...what wonderful progress!" Fujisaki exclaimed in triumph. "Jason is sure doing his job now! We'll soon be feared!"

Himetsu nodded. "Indeed, sir."

"And since he can't be killed, it's just perfect! We could not have asked for a better killing machine!" Fujisaki rubbed his hands along the crystal ball. "Good work Jason...that's it... Soon enough, we will have him move on to the Sand Village..."

His maniacal laughter echoed along the room.

--

Within the dark, dank depths of the Akatsuki hideout, two astral holograms were communicating inside the dark room of which the large summoning hands were located, where the extract of demons took place.

(And yes, I still spell his name "Pein". Sue me.)

The astral hologram of Pein looked hard toward the astral hologram of Zetsu. "So, you're saying there's been some murders occurring in Konoha? Any leads?"

Zetsu's hologram nodded. "We don't have a name, but it appears to be a man wearing a Hockey mask, and carrying a machete, apparently his weapon of choice."

"So you've seen him?"

"Affirmative. He doesn't have any signs of chakra, but he also doesn't seem to be fully alive, either."

"And the location of the Nine-Tails, and Long-Tail?"

"They recently left the village on a mission to the Hirenshi village."

Mulling this over, Pein nodded. "I see, I see." This was definitely something to look further into. "All right, continue to observe, and report back to me by morning. And keep an eye on that brat, Tobi."

"Understood." Zetsu said, and his astral hologram disappeared.

With a sigh, Pein's astral hologram was quiet for a few moments, trying to make sense of this whole thing. It seemed strange, and yet...

"Deidara, Casana, appear before me."

On cue, two astral holograms appeared before him. One of Deidara, and the other of Casana.

"You rang, Leader?" Deidara said dryly.

Pein ignored his comment. "I want you two to locate to Konoha, and keep an eye for the Nine-Tails and Long-Tail for when they return from the Hirenshi village. And also, even try to get a closer look at this strange character that has arisen there. He wears a Hockey mask and carries a machete."

Casana's Nentougan-laced eyes stared at Pein for a few moments. "I don't quite get why you want us to do that, but okay. We'll get going."

"Understood." Deidara agreed.

"Good. You are dismissed." Pein said.

The two holograms disappeared, and then Pein followed suit.


	4. Moving On

"Ah, here we are!" Naruto exclaimed, taking a good breath. "We made it one piece!"

"Of course we did, Snookie." Teah teased him. "Because we have you around!"

"Oh shut up." Naruto rolled his eyes, but grinned anyway.

"The Shamaness lives in that hut over there, I believe." Sakura said, pointing toward a large, traditional hut.

The Hirenshi Village was a small village near the borders of the Fire Country, and was known for its abundance in herbs and medicines that is produced all the time. It was peaceful, but it was near a dangerous village, which often was why it was always a bit dangerous to get close to.

None the less, it was quite peaceful and very serene, surrounded by a water source and forest, and not far was a wide open field.

"All right, then we'll escort you in, Princess." Kakashi teased with a smile behind his mask.

Teah rolled her eyes. "I'm so delighted."

"We'll wait outside and keep guard, Kakashi-sensei!" Kiba said, gesturing to himself, Lee, Shikamaru and Neji. "You guys go inside and do your thing, and we can keep guard out here."

Yamato gave a nod. "Smart idea, Kiba. All right, I'll stand guard with you, and you can go inside with the Princess, Naruto and Sakura, Kakashi."

"Okay, we won't be too long." Kakashi said, and led the three of them inside.

The elderly Shamaness looked up from making a small brew, and smiled warmly. "Oh, Princess! It is such an honour that you have come." She stood up and bowed respectfully.

Teah just smiled shakily, since she wasn't all for Royal gestures. "No need to bow to me, Himekawa-sama."

"Humour her, Teah-nee-chan." Naruto whispered to her.

"Oh, my apologies, Your Highness." Himekawa sat back down. "Please, do sit. I hope you are comfortable."

"I'm fine, it's okay." Teah said, and sat down on a map. "So, you requested an audience with me, correct? What is it that you wanted?"

"I am glad you asked that, Princess." Himekawa said, and held out something in a bag. "Bring these, to the Shaman in your Kingdom, I have wanted to give him my medicines for quite some time."

"Oh, of course." Teah took the bag from her. "I'm planning to go there soon, and make some announcements to my people. I will surely drop these off to him, it's quite an honour, since you are one of the best in the Fire Country."

The old woman blushed and giggled. "Oh Princess, you are far too kind! I greatly appreciate it, oh thank you. I hope to pass my expertise to someone so deserving, because this world needs good medicines, do you not agree?"

"Absolutely I do." Teah nodded.

"I would have expected nothing less, Your Highness." Himekawa smiled warmly and then gently touched her cheek. "With a woman of your kindness and beauty, you will surely find a wonderful man."

Teah blushed a little, looking at Naruto at the corner of her eye. _I already have... And he's not interested in me._ "I can only wish, Himekawa-sama."

She laughed. "You are quite a dreamer. Please, all of you, you are welcome to stay a little longer. I will have the cook prepare a meal for your troubles."

"It's all right Himekawa-sama, we'll just-" Kakashi began.

"Nonsense! Please, stay. It is not very often that I have such wonderful guests."

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "If you put it that way, how can we refuse?"

--

At a small home in Konoha, a young teenage boy no older than 16 and a girl, also no older than 16, were outside the house, making out like crazy.

"Oh Kiremaru-kun, shouldn't you be watching your sister?" The girl cooed.

Kiremaru chuckled and brought his hand up her shirt while fumbling to open the door. "No way, Kotoko. She's two, she can handle herself."

"Ohhh, you should be punished!" Kotoko said with a laugh and soft moan. "Ohhhhhhh!!!"

They fumbled inside, and the door shut behind them. Falling against the wall, they continued to make out like crazy, feeling each other up as they made their way to the stairs.

All of a sudden, the back door in the kitchen swung wide open with a very loud creaking noise. The couple paused, freezing in their steps.

"Shit, is someone home?!" Kotoko hissed.

"Stay here." Kiremaru pulled back from her, slowly making his way to the kitchen. "Mom? Dad? Aunt Emiko? Hello?"

The back door was wide open, but no one was there. It just swung lightly from the breeze coming from outside. It was dark out by now, and very quiet, other than the soft sounds of the night. Cautiously approaching, Kiremaru looked outside toward the backyard, and saw nothing except for a few fireflies. Carefully grasping the doorknob, he shut the door.

Standing behind the door after it closed was Jason, who had hidden in the pantry nearby, unnoticed.

"Oh my God!! Oh my God!! Kotoko!! Go get he-" Kiremaru was cut off when his throat was slit, blood pouring out of the wound and his mouth.

Jason watched as the boy fell to the floor, bleeding to death, as a scream came from the doorway. It was Kotoko, having witnessed the bloody murder. She ran and tried to escape, but Jason had caught up to her, grabbing her roughly by the hair.

"Let me go, you sick freak!!!" Kotoko yelled angrily, thrashing and screaming. She bumped into his stomach, causing the machete to drop to the ground.

When Jason moved to pick it up, Kotoko took it as a moment to free herself and shove him back, with little effect, but it bought her some time. She grabbed the machete and promptly stabbed him in the chest with it.

Jason paused in his steps, and then looked down at the puncture as if he were a robot. Blood was pouring out, but it didn't affect him at all. He grasped the handle, and slowly proceeded to pull it out as if it were just a sewing needle.

Kotoko ran toward the door, and was about to open it when the machete suddenly went flying and pierced through the back of her head, the end of the blade coming out of her forehead and going into the door. She shook a few times, and then went limp also.

As Jason went to go and pull the machete out, with some difficulty since a good portion of the blade was now lodged into the door, he then heard footsteps behind him. Was there someone else in the house? He turned around, and his eyes behind the eye holes of his Hockey mask widened with surprise.

"Jason...my special, special boy..." Pamela said lovingly, coming from the doorway of the kitchen. "You've done pretty good...but now mommy needs you to go somewhere else."

Jason tilted his head and listened to her respectfully. His eyes brimmed with trust and love, all directed toward his mother.

"My special boy.... Go to the Village of the Sand, and let those naughty children taste the very meaning of punishment! Go Jason, go and teach them a lesson! Let them see you, Jason...there's no need to hide."

If Jason had a "normal" brain functioning, he probably would be getting suspicious by now. Since he didn't quite pick up that notion very well, or very fast for that matter, he just gave a slow nod and then managed to dislodge his weapon.

"Go Jason...make mommy proud, just as you always have. I know you can do it, my special, special boy." His mother said softly, backing into the kitchen.

Jason reached out, trying to touch her, but then she was gone. Tilting his head in confusion, he gave a short shrug and then left the house through the back door.

--

"Genjutsu successful, sir." Himetsu confirmed to his Boss.

"Excellent work, Himetsu." Fujisaki sneered. "Now then, Yakita, prepare the very jutsu to bring him there."

"Right away, Boss!" Yakita said, and went to go and do just that in the next room.

Fujisaki stared into his crystal ball, as he watched the vision of Jason now going through the backyard of the house to get out of there. "Not as much as I would have wanted him to kill...but it did stir up a good amount of attention... One down, a few more to go." He then paused. "Mokira!"

One of the seven men instantly came to his side, saluting. "You called me, Boss?"

"Take a scout, and go to the Hirenshi Village...keep an eye on the Nine-Tails, and the Princess. We will hatch a plan, and kidnap the Princess."

"Understood, Boss." Mokira nodded and then left the room.

"Kukukuku....everything is going according to plan....and before long, the Five Great Shinobi Countries will be mine!"

--

"What?! What do you mean murders?!" Tsunade exclaimed, abruptly standing up from her desk. "When did this happen!?"

"Just today, Hokage." Said the ANBU Captain, taking off his mask and wiping the sweat off his forehead. "The victims were two jounin, and seven teenage civilians. We don't have any leads as of yet."

Tsunade sighed heavily, slinking into her chair. "Any witnesses?"

"Just a few, Hokage. Some witnesses say they saw a very tall man wearing a Hockey mask committing the murder on the three boys outside the newly opened Tavern on the east side. I'm not sure if it links to the other murders."

"Well get back out there and keep investigating! And find this guy, take him in for questioning, I don't know, do something!" Tsunade shouted, frustrated.

The ANBU Captain nodded and bowed. "Understood, Lady Hokage." He then left her office.

Taking a bottle of sake from her drawer, Tsunade poured herself some and drink it down.

"This is going to get really stressful..."

--

After having eaten a very hearty dinner with the Shamaness, she'd invited them to stay the night so that they wouldn't have to go back to Konoha in such dark and dangerous conditions. Kakashi accepted after having protested in vain for a good five minutes, and so now they were all walking around or going to their rooms for the night.

Naruto sat quietly along the wrap around walk of the Shamaness's place, eating an apple and looking a little mournfully toward Lee and Sakura, who were chatting animatedly. He was struck with jealousy as he watched them, feeling an empty feeling in his gut.

"Hi there, Naruto."

Looking up, he saw Teah standing above him, and dressed in a long, silky nightdress borrowed from the Shamaness. It came with a short-sleeved slip that tied in a little bow at the front. She smiled and sat down next to him.

"Hey, Teah-nee-chan." Naruto smiled at her. "What'cha doing out here?"

"I wanted to sit outside for a few minutes, look up at the stars...and I saw you here." Teah shrugged lightly. "You all right?"

Naruto glanced back toward Lee and Sakura. Lee was now chuckling and caressing Sakura's cheek as she blushed and giggled. With a sigh, he looked away.

Following his gaze, Teah glanced toward the two, and then looked at Naruto. "Oh, I see. ...I'm sorry, Naruto."

"Huh?" He looked over at her, a little confused. "Why are you sorry?"

"I know how you feel about Sakura, and I can see this pains you." She said softly. "The last thing I wanted was for you to get hurt like this."

Blinking, Naruto couldn't help but stare at her for a few moments, and then he started to laugh.

"Gosh Teah-nee-chan, you worry too much!" Naruto uttered, bringing an arm around her. "It's gonna take more than that for me to fall down into a big, sad world!"

_Just like you to hide your emotions._ Teah thought.

"Naruto, it's okay, you don't have to hide it." Teah said sweetly.

"Well...yeah, I know, but I guess...well, I just gotta learn to accept these things. I mean, she liked Sasuke way back when."

"You do realize it was one-sided, don't you?" Teah said, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Not really, I was just yelling at Sasuke to be nicer to her." Naruto shrugged. "Now Lee. Sure I'm bummed, since I really do want Sakura to like me..." He looked down in sadness. "I'll get over it, Teah-nee-chan. I do have a spine. I've made it through worse and here I am now, right? With good friends and great teachers who are all like a big family to me. I know Sakura will always be my friend, so it's not like I'm gonna lose her completely."

Teah blinked at him, surprised at his words. She couldn't have expected anything less from Naruto, who although had a very tough, tragic life, and yet was able to bounce back and move on to make his dreams come true and create a life that he WOULD be happy with, and keep his friends close like a family. Even today she still admired that about him, and wanted to think like that.

_Naruto...I wish you could look at me like you look at Sakura..._ Teah thought sadly.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Naruto tilted his head to the side as he saw her looking like she wanted to cry. "You okay?"

"H-Huh? What?" Teah snapped out of it and glanced at him. "Oh, oh. Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking, that's all. ....Actually, Naruto, I..."

"Well hello there, you two." Kakashi said as he came up to the two of them. "Oh, did I interrupt something?"

"No! No!" Both of them said unison.

The masked copy ninja chuckled. "Whatever you say. But anyway, I just wanted to tell you both to get to bed soon, since we'll be taking off bright and early tomorrow after breakfast. So goodnight, and sleep well, kiddies!" He teased and then walked off.

Naruto rolled his eyes and stood, helping Teah to her feet. "Guess we may as well go to bed."

"...Naruto..." Teah began softly.

"Mm? Yeah, what's up?" He turned back around to face.

"...I...I...."

A rush, an impulse, or maybe a passionate desire, she didn't know which one it was, but it did make her grab Naruto to her and lean down, kissing him on the lips.

Naruto's cobalt eyes widened to the size of dinner plates at the sudden attack of affection, and he had no idea what to think. One of his closest friends was now kissing him. _Kissing_ him! Friends didn't kiss! It made no sense, why was she doing that? It was kind of odd too, since she was at least 4 inches taller than he was.

He thought to push her away, which seemed to be the only logical thing to do, but he also didn't want to hurt her feelings, or make her feel bad. She was a pretty good kisser too...wait, did this mean she liked him? It had to be that, because Teah didn't just go around kissing her friends for no reason. Even she didn't have all the immorality in the world to do such a thing. Had he been oblivious to her affections all this time?

His heart leaped when he felt her tongue trace along his lips, it was so surprising that he opened his mouth and her tongue came wandering in, slowly exploring his mouth. It was unlike anything he'd ever felt before, and it wasn't unpleasant either. In fact, her kiss was really nice. She was soft, but hungry and passionate all at once.

Naruto didn't know what came over him, but he found himself bringing his hands up to run his fingers through her raven hair and kiss her back with equal fervor.

How it happened, even she didn't know. Nothing seemed to be explained as they kissed under the moonlight.

--

"Who says we have to go back so quickly? Days like this don't come very often, and we should take the time to smell the roses. Life's short, you know."

"Using my own philosophy against me, are you?"

It was the next day, and along Oasis Park, a beautiful park that was recently built in the outskirts of the Sand Village after diggers had hit a nice, cold water source. So it became known as Oasis Park, and with the help of other resources, it became a beautiful green space with lots of trees, palm trees, shrubbery, fresh grass, and the water source in the centre of it all was drinkable. It was a very refreshing place, family-friendly, and just relaxing.

Casana Kusabana giggled and came around, throwing her arms around Deidara's neck. "Only to tell the truth." She smiled.

Chuckling, Deidara kissed her on the nose. "You're terrible."

"I know I am." She winked and kissed his cheek before pulling away. "Besides, it's nice to have a tropical oasis in this forsaken desert!"

"Good point." Deidara admitted thoughtfully. "And we already finished our job, and reported to the Leader, so we've got some time to kill before we go off to Konoha."

"You said it. C'mon, there's a tropical drink stand over there, let's get some-" She was cut off by the sound of a loud _CRACK_ coming from somewhere nearby.

Puzzled, Casana looked to her left, and what she saw made her blood boil and her eyes widen with terror.

A group of little kids, between 4 and 6, were playing around together under a large tree that was leaning over dangerously, its trunk cracking. Four of the kids had run out of the way, but one of them, a little girl no older than 5, had tripped and fallen. But by the time she would be able to get up and run, she wouldn't be able to make it.

_And the teenagers babysitting them weren't paying attention!_

--

Those babysitters were going to pay dearly for not paying attention to children. It was almost major deja-vu of the very event going back to 1957.

Parting a branch aside, Jason moved in toward the teenage babysitters, who he'd seen arrive with the children, so he knew they were responsible for them, but what he saw next made him freeze in his tracks and even colour him _surprised._

A blur of black, red, and brown came practically out of nowhere, rushing toward the little girl. A young woman, no older than 17 or 18, picked up the child with one arm, and then placed her other hand up against the falling tree trunk to stop it from falling. He watched with confusion, amazement and surprise as this happened, and how the tree didn't fall on her.

Casana braced her feet against the ground, holding back the falling tree trunk with added strength of her chakra, and holding the child with her free hand.

"Okay, you're safe." She said to the child, letting her go.

"Wow...thank you! That was so cool!" The little girl said, and ran to the babysitters.

Casana then let the tree gently to the ground, so that it would be taken care of later. But she wasn't finished yet. In fury and disgust, she marched over toward the teen babysitters.

"What were you thinking?!" She scolded them as if they were children themselves. "That little girl almost got crushed to death by that tree and you weren't even paying attention!"

"Well, like...it's like, not our fault." Said one of the girls, clearly a ditzy airhead.

"Hey, chill out bitch." Said one of the boys. "She's fine now, isn't she?"

"That's not the point!" Casana poked him in the chest. "YOU irresponsible morons weren't paying attention to children, and you call yourselves babysitters!? Always, ALWAYS watch the children when you're responsible for them! Boy, if I hadn't been there to see it, you would've been in major trouble."

"Don't you talk to Paul that way!" Said another girl.

"Yeah, so shut up, you stupid bitch!" Said the other boy.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I make you guys angry for calling you out on a stupid mistake that YOU made? Well I'm sorry, I fail to see the logic and right for YOU to be angry." Casana mocked, and cracked her knuckles. "You're all in for a major punishment."

"W-Wait, we should talk about-"

Deidara watched from where he was standing, drinking a tropical smoothie, as the sounds of punches and yells of agony were heard. He yawned and then looked at a pocket watch he was carrying.

Watching from the trees, Jason was pretty amazed that someone had actually called them out on them being naughty. He didn't catch a lot of the words she said, but he heard "punishment" and that enough told him to take care of those teenagers...after she was gone, of course.

"Let that be a lesson to you." Casana told them, walking away from them. She smiled sweetly as she reached Deidara's side. "C'mon, I want a smoothie too."

"Sure thing." Deidara chuckled and they walked off.

--

"You are NEVER watching our children again!"

"I'll see to you never babysitting again!"

"W-We're sorry!"

"No excuses! You're fired!"

"You are the worst babysitters ever!"

"Your parents will hear about this!"

The four babysitters stood helplessly, all sporting some bruises and a black eye, as the parents of the children came took the kids and headed off home. It was getting later in the afternoon by now.

"Great, so now what?" Said one of the girls.

"Let's go get some beer, I'm tired of this." Sighed one of the boys.

"Hey, I'm gonna go take a whiz, wait for me!" Said another boy, going toward some bushes and trees.

He zipped down his fly and did his business, whistling a little.

"Man...what a dumb bitch, how dare she get us in trouble...it's all her fault. I'm gonna go find out where she lives, fuck her, and kill her." He said to himself.

Suddenly, Jason was right behind him in nearly a flash. Seeing the shadow falling over him, he didn't have enough time to react as Jason swung his machete with so much force and swiftness, it sliced the boy in half at the waist. Both halves fell to the ground in a bloody mess.

--

"Okay, like, it's been like, a while. Where is he?" Said one of the girls.

"I dunno, we better go find him." Said the other boy.

They all went toward to where they'd seen the other boy go to, and they figured he may have gone a little deeper into the trees and shrubs, at least until they then found his remains.

"AAAGGH!! LIKE OH MY GOD!!!!" Screamed the airhead girl.

"What happened to him?!?!!" Cried the other girl.

"I don't know, something killed him! C'mon, we gotta get out of-"

His sentence was cut off with a blood curdling yelp when the blade of a machete pierced through his chest, and a giant foot knocked him down to the ground. He tried to get up, but Jason placed his foot firmly on his back to keep him in place and then grabbed at his head, twisting it and proceeding to rip it from his shoulders. The girls could do nothing but watch and scream in terror and before long, Jason had ripped off the head of the boy, and tossed it into the trees.

He turned his attention to the two girls, and picked his machete up from where it was struck into the ground beside him. One girl tried to back away, but she didn't get a chance as the machete was thrown and struck between her eyebrows. She stumbled and then fell to the ground, dead.

"Like, no! Get away!" The other girl pounded at his chest pathetically with her fists.

Unfazed, Jason grabbed her head and twisted it around 360, and then turned it back around to face the front, and then kicked her legs, very roughly, to make her fall down.

Taking his machete from the other girl, he stared at the crimson blood on the blade and then walked off.


	5. Life of the Party

"Boss, we have something to report." Mokira and his scout, who was a minion to the group, said as they came into the meeting room.

"Oh? Do tell, Mokira." Fujisaki smirked maliciously and looked up from the crystal ball.

"The Nine-Tails and his group, along with the Princess, are soon heading back to their village. The Princess was given medical herbs from the Shamaness." He said.

"Mm-hm...I see. Anything else?"

"This is irrelevant, but we have reason to believe that the Princess has very strong feelings for the vessel of the Nine-Tails...his name is Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki." Mokira explained.

"I knew that." Fujisaki sighed, and then looked up with interest. "Strong feelings, you say? Well...this is certainly _interesting_...yes it is. The Princess, in love with a mere peasant like him! Not to mention, the vessel of a dangerous demon! Oh, this is quite rich! Yes...oh yes, we could use this to our advantage... Mokira, you and your scout go back to Konoha and keep an eye on them, and report back to me in a couple of days."

"Understood, Boss." Mokira nodded, and then he and his scout left the room.

"Hmm...well, so this is quite lovely...yes indeed...." Fujisaki chuckled to himself. "Oh...yes. Hmmm... Himetsu!"

Immediately, his right-hand man was at his side.

"You wanted to see me, Boss?"

"We will set a new plan of action, Himetsu...given this quite juicy information. We will capture the Princess, as planned. And of course, we will hopefully lure in the Nine-Tailed Fox boy, Naruto Uzumaki...now of course, as Mokira had said, the Princess apparently has strong feelings for him. So when we lure him, she will be forced to choose. To surrender, or he dies. It's perfect, Himetsu...just perfect!"

"Absolutely, sir. Shall we begin operation kidnapping?"

"Not just yet...I want to have a little fun first. And in the meantime, our little Jason is doing quite well...quite well."

--

"Goodbye, Himekawa-sama!"

"It was lovely to be here!"

"We'll definitely come back! Thanks for the food!"

"Thank you, dear wonderful woman for your hospitality! I can only say how much I appreciate your utmost kindness!"

Naruto and the rest of them were all saying their goodbyes to Himekawa as they were departing back for Konoha. It was the next morning, and very cloudy, promising rain at the very least if not a pretty bad rainstorm.

"Do come back again, all of you!" Himekawa waved to them. "It was an honour to meet you, Princess! You are most welcome to return!"

Teah smiled. "Not a problem, and thank you too, Himekawa-sama." She bowed in respect, and then followed after the rest of them.

"Let's go guys, we can hopefully make it back before it starts to rain." Said Kakashi. "Okay, let's move!"

On cue, they all leaped off beyond the village gate and into the trees, where they proceeded in running and leaping from tree to tree, creating the illusion that they were flying, even if they weren't. Kakashi and Yamato went ahead, followed by Lee and Sakura, Kiba and Shikamaru, and then Neji. Naruto and Teah followed behind them, side by side.

"Listen, Naruto..." Teah said softly, blushing a bit. "About last night...I just wanted to say, I'm sorry."

Naruto blushed a little as he remembered what had happened the night before. After she had kissed him, she asked if she could sleep in his room with him, because she didn't want to be alone. He of course said yes, and they slept in the same room together.

Before falling asleep, a rush of emotions came over them and they ended up kissing again, which was surprising on both their parts. It even led to making out. Although not passionate, hungry, leading-to-sex making out, just loving, sweet and a little passionate. Naruto didn't understand why it was happening, even with the hypothesis he had about her having feelings for him.

And it was nice, really nice. He convinced himself that was a part of why they just kept kissing. It was nice, very pleasant, and they were close friends, so it wasn't too, too bad, right?

Now he didn't know what to think.

"Don't worry about it, Teah-nee-chan." Naruto smiled. "It really wasn't bad at all. It was really nice, I enjoyed it. So don't worry yourself over it."

"No, it's not that..." Teah looked away. "I don't want you to feel uncomfortable and awkward around me, and feel that now that we've kissed, you have to keep doing it. I really don't know what came over me, and I'm sorry. Friends don't kiss, and even if we didn't do anything, it was definitely sexual. Naruto, I really, really don't want this to ruin our friendship...and I'm scared it will."

"Teah-nee-chan, don't say that!" Naruto stopped on a branch, and held her hand to stop her also. "Nothing could ever drive me away from you, you're one of my best friends, and like a family to me! Plus, I know you would never do anything to hurt someone on purpose." He smiled at her fondly. "I know most people never really see you, that they always refer to you as Sasuke or Itachi's cousin, but no, I don't see them in you. I see you, Teah-nee-chan. You're a strong, kind, honest and caring woman, doing the best you can to one day serve and protect your people as their Princess. And Sasuke may be my best friend, and I want to drag his ass back here, but there's so much you have that he doesn't. Because unlike him, I know your heart is in your home."

"Naruto, I..." Teah began, blushing harder.

"And hey, you're going to find a wonderful man who will love you, and never leave you, none of that. Sasuke had his chance, but he doesn't deserve you, not after how he treated you." Naruto went on. "Trust me, Teah-nee-chan...if I knew you before I met Sakura, you can bet I would go out with you. I see myself with you, no doubt about it."

A gasp escaped the ravenette and her cheeks became as red as parts of her outfit and skirt, making her weak on her knees that nearly caused her to lose balance. Her heart beat with so much love and adoration for him, it took all of her strength to resist the urge to kiss him again.

"Oh Naruto..." Teah uttered passionately. "I...I lo-"

"Hey you two!" Kiba called to them from a nearby tree. "You guys done chatting? Hurry up! It's beginning to rain already!"

"Yeah yeah, we're coming!" Naruto called to him. "C'mon Teah-nee-chan, we better go."

Nodding, Teah mutely followed after the rest of them, her mind wandering.

--

There was loud, strumming music coming from a small house within the outskirts of the Sand Village. This house was different from the rest of the very unique, sand-like architecture of the rest of the village. It was kind of hidden, abandoned, and often used for parties that teenagers would throw. Not many knew of this, and yet when something was to be done, no clear evidence was presented. So of course, often, the teenagers got away with it.

Little did they know that punishment was going to come their way.

Jason, having heard the music as he was walking by, was curious and wanted to see what was going on, and even see if there was any potential prey inside. This village was his next destination after all, and he had to make the best of it when it came to what his mother asked him to do.

--

Inside the house, a mad, rave-like party was going on. With loud music, groups of teenagers of the Sand Village, and even some visiting from the villages within the Wind Country. There was of course alcohol, drugs, dirty dancing, and of course, having sex. Sometimes in one of the rooms, and even right in the middle of all the action. No one cared, most encouraged it, and there were even some girls who were going all around throwing themselves from guy to guy. It was sickening to anyone who wasn't into partying or anything like that.

Oh, and it was a big surprise party for Kideki Kosharuga, a resident of the village.

"Yo, did the guy even get here yet?" Slurred one boy.

"Not yet, he should be here soon." Said one girl.

"He's late for his own party, how retarded." One guy said. "Hey, I'm gonna go have a butt outside, be back." He went outside and shut the door behind him.

It was pretty dark into the evening by now, and in a desert territory like this, it was pretty chilly out. Funny thing about deserts, sweltering heat during the day, and freezing cold during the night.

With a sigh, he took out a cigarette and lit it, inhaling it and blowing the smoke from his mouth. He sighed happily at the feeling. He loved smoking so much, it was everything to him, even more than his girlfriend.

"Ah yeah, this is the fucking life." He said to himself.

A sound was heard behind him and he turned around, puzzled.

"Yumi? Yumi that you? ...Come on Yumi, no need to scare me now." He walked toward the nearby tool shed, thinking she was in there. "Yo, Yumi? Hey! Hello? ...Hayato? Hayato that you, man? ....Gogo? Gogo?"

Slowly he wandered inside, sipping alcohol from his flask as he went. The inside of the tool shed was dark, with still a few tables and old, rusty tools laying around.

"Hello? Yumi? You in here? Man, if you wanted to fuck right here all you had to do was say so. Hello? You in here?"

The moon was shining in through a dusted, old window on one side. A few of the old tools left there were hanging on a peg board, scattered on the table, and there was also an axe sitting on a chair below the window. Some nails, broken glass, were also scattered about in various places.

The door creaked, causing the boy, Ukeshi to turn around in a startled manner. But nothing or no one was there, so he assumed the wind had caused it. He chuckled to himself and took another puff from his cigarette and turned to leave, when he suddenly met with Jason's hulking, towering figure standing right behind him.

"Oh! Oh man, you scared me! Hey, nice mask ya got there." Ukeshi laughed, not quite realizing what he was in for. "But really no need for a mask, here, I'll take it off your fucking hands and-"

As he reached up to take the mask, Jason's hand shot up and grabbed him by the wrist, pulling it away and twisting it. Ukeshi let out a cry of pain as his arm was being twisted to the side until the bones snapped, but Jason wasn't though. He snapped his wrist in one squeeze and then let go, grabbing Ukeshi by the collar and tossing up against the wall.

Ukeshi rolled to the ground, groaning and trying to get up, and reach for his discarded cigarette. Just before his hand touched it, Jason's boot stepped down on it, and his fingers, crushing them.

"Agggh!!! What the hell?!?! Aaggghh!!!" Ukeshi screamed, trying to pull his hand away, but with no avail.

Suddenly, the door of the shed opened up and a feminine scream came from the doorway. It was Yumi, screaming for her life.

"G-Get the fuck out of here Yumi! This guy's a madman!" Ukeshi yelled.

Yumi, terrified, turned and tried to run, but Jason grabbed the axe from the chair and threw it at her, striking the back of her head. She cried out, and then fell to the ground, dead.

"Noooo!!! You fucking bastard!!" Ukeshi tried to free himself, but he was soon silenced by Jason's machete stabbing him in the head.

Pulling his weapon out and walking away from the corpse, Jason left the shed and went back toward the house, staring in through a window as he approached.

--

"Oh quiet, shh shh! He's coming! He's coming!" A girl whispered, looking out the front door peep hole. "Okay everyone get ready!"

Kideki went to the front door and was about to open the door, when he heard a sound behind him. Turning, he met with Jason, who thrust his machete in through his forehead with such speed and force, he didn't even have time to scream.

The blade also went through the door and came through between the girl's eyes, with in turn caused everyone around to gasp and scream in fright at the sight.

--

"What!? What do you mean, all those people were killed!? What happened?!"

Tsunade sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Listen brat, it really doesn't have to concern you, we'll handle it."

"No way, I can't just walk away when the village is in trouble!" Naruto protested, slamming his fists against her desk. "What's been going on here?!"

"Well apparently, they said some guy carrying a machete and wearing a Hockey mask killed these teenagers outside the new Tavern that opened up recently." Tsunade explained. "Don't have anything further."

Naruto's eyes widened, he couldn't believe it. Could it had been the same guy he saw the other day? No way, it couldn't...could it?

"Tsunade-sama...are you serious?" Teah finally said. "I...we've seen him before!"

Sakura looked at the ravenette with surprise. "You have? When?"

"....Yesterday." Naruto answered for her, clenching his fists harder. "We saw this real tall guy wearing a Hockey Mask before we left to the Hirenshi Village."

"What?!" Now it was Tsunade's turn to be surprised. "Did you see anything at all?"

"Nah, he seemed normal. I mean he didn't talk or anything, and sure his clothes were kind of dirtied and tattered, but I didn't see anything." Naruto said.

"...I did." Teah admitted. "...Before I met with you guys, I passed the guy while I was leaving the training grounds. He didn't do or say anything there either...but he was carrying a machete."

"Say what?!" Naruto gasped, whirling around to face the Uchiha. "Are you serious?! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry...I figured it was nothing, and I didn't want to worry you, either." Teah said, looking away in shame. "But now that this happened..." Her voice trailed off.

"Well, we're going to definitely do something for sure." Tsunade said. "I've got the ANBU Captain doing some investigating now anyway. So I'll let you know if I find anything else. Go on home, brat. It's past your bedtime." She teased, smiling.

Grumbling, Naruto nodded and then he and the girls left Tsunade's office.

With a sigh, Tsunade leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling. All this murder business was no surprise, since they occurred everyday in almost every place in the entire world, but once in a blue moon, it was unsettling and more mysterious than usual. And this one definitely fit the bill.

She just hoped nothing would happen to Naruto and his friends among this whole thing. She would never forgive herself if something did happen.

--

"You sure you'll be okay tonight, Teah-nee-chan?" Naruto asked. "I mean, with that killer lurking around, and you being a Princess...well, you're a pretty potential target."

Teah let out a small, half giggle. "No no, I'll be okay, Naruto. Really. I mean, I've been alone and on my own since I was 12 now...I think I'll handle it."

After they had left Tsunade's office, Naruto had offered to walk Teah home that evening because of all that had happened in the village with the mysteriously committed murders. He was worried for her safety, despite that she insisted she would be okay. But of course she liked the idea of walking home with him. Any excuse just to spend a little more time with him was something she would jump at just about anytime.

Now they were at the dark, gloomy Uchiha Mansion, saying their goodbyes. They had the day off tomorrow, so it would be good for possibly investigating this further, and even getting some ramen.

"Besides, we can go get some ramen tomorrow. My treat." Teah offered with a smile.

Naruto grinned happily. "All right! Sounds good! It's a date!"

She laughed again, feeling exceptionally brighter with him around. "Okay then. It's settled. I'll meet you tomorrow, same time, same place."

"Awesome, so then I'll see you tomorrow! Night, Teah-nee-chan."

"Goodnight, Naruto."

Their eyes locked as their gazes met, and as if under some kind of strange directions from a movie director, they leaned toward each other and their lips met, hesitantly brushing each other's. Logic and sensibility was kicking in then, since they were friends, and friends didn't kiss. This was silly, just an act of possible frustrated hormones. It was not something they should do, in case of further complicating their friendship.

But all logic was tossed out the window then when _Naruto_ initiated a full kiss on her lips, bringing her closer and having to tilt his head up further since she was taller. Teah's heart raced and she brought her arms around him, kissing back with equal fervor. Their lips clashed, their tongues danced, their bodies meshed together. It was just about a repeat of the night before.

Neither of them knew what came over them. Although she had feelings for him, it was impossible to deny, she knew she would never, ever put him in this kind of a position. And Naruto loved her as a friend, even a sister, and nothing much more. At least that's what he was sure of. But was this making him like her more than just as a friend?

It was all so confusing.

But they tried not to think about it as they just kissed, letting whatever was going to happen just happen.

After about a minute or so, they pulled back from each other with a string of saliva connecting them that soon fell away.

"Why are we doing this, Teah-nee-chan?" Naruto managed.

Teah sighed. "I don't know, Naruto. I wish I knew why."

Logic was tossed aside as they fell up against the front door, kissing again.

--

"Excellent...he's doing wonderfully!" Fujisaki exclaimed happily. "Oh, I can just taste victory now!"

It turned out, as confirmed on the visionary crystalline ball, that the entire group of teenagers at the rave surprise party were all punished in Jason's torturing manner. Now it showed that he was leaving the premises, lurking in the shadows of the village.

"Boss, we have news for you!" Came the hologram on the crystalline ball of Mokira.

Fujisaki sighed. "What is it, Mokira?"

"It seems that two Akatsuki members have been spotted in the Sand Village! They are currently in disguise under the pretenses of normal people. Along with fake I.D.'s and everything, but there's no mistaking their chakra. They were identified as Deidara, and also, he is with the survivor of the Kusabana clan."

Looking interested, Fujisaki pressed. "Is that so? The very Kusabana heiress herself is there? Oh, how awesome! Keep a close eye on them as well, see where they may locate to next. This could be good...very good. Now then, a report on the Nine-Tails and the Princess?"

"They have arrived back in Konoha, sir. They are currently at her Konoha residence, the Uchiha Mansion."

"Together?"

"Yes Boss, they were walking there together."

"I see...I see...well, good work Mokira. You and your scout get back to work and I will expect a full report soon."

"Understood, Boss."

The image disappeared, and Fujisaki went back to watching his little "puppet" continue in lurking the darkened shadows of the streets of the Sand Village.

--

Note: Hey guys! I just wanted to let you all know that I suck with filler space. I really, really do. Unless I get a good idea, I just can't do it right. So if you have any good ideas for potential filler space, that would be wonderful. I don't want this story to be too short or seem rushed.

Thanks!


	6. No! No!

"Well all right, we've got it now! Successfully stolen."

"And to think the Leader didn't even have to ask us to do it. He'll be pleased, for sure."

"You're right about that. Well anyway, since it's dark, let's stay here tonight. We can head for Konoha tomorrow."

"Oh, but the park rules say that civilians can't be within park grounds after dark like this."

"Well we're not civilians, are we?"

Casana laughed, shaking her head in agreement as she threw her arms around the blonde's neck. "Oh Deidara, you're gonna get punished one of these days."

"As long as it's by you." Deidara chuckled and kissed her on the forehead. "Then I couldn't ask for anything better."

Footsteps were heard off in the distance of the trees not far from them. Puzzled, they both turned, facing that very direction. It was pretty dark, and hard to see, but nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be there.

"Probably a squirrel." Deidara said dismissively.

"That wasn't a squirrel." Casana said, frowning a little. "This is a desert, and no desert animals are within the village boundaries. Even if it wasn't a desert, that is not a squirrel. It sounded bigger."

"....I think you're right. Wait here, okay? If anything happens to me, get the hell out of here." Deidara whispered to her, and then walked off into the trees.

"Okay." Casana said, watching him go and then anxiously going behind a nearby tree.

The foresty area of the park was dark, with some moonlight shining in through the branches, but it didn't offer as much light needed. Deidara's feet crunched in dead leaves as he explored, carefully fingering away any branches or shrubs in his way.

Normally anyone would call out "Hello? Anyone out there?", but Deidara didn't think that was the best option. So instead, he snuck around quietly, keeping his guard up just in case. Casana was right to be suspicious, something just didn't feel right about this. It was very quiet, and yet, noisy. Someone else was in here, that was for sure. But where?

Biting his lip, Deidara's stormy blue eyes scanned around him, adjusting them to the endless darkness that seemed to envelop the area. Nothing there, either. He took a few more steps forward, and then paused as he heard other footsteps with his. He looked behind him. Nothing.

"Get a hold of yourself, you're just imagining things." He said to himself. "No way anyone here could uphold the power of my art."

Turning back around to face forward, he nearly fell back as he saw that there was now someone standing behind him. Not to mention someone so tall, he had to crane his neck to look up at his face.

Jason stood towering over the blonde, his machete in his hand. Clearly looking down as if he disapproved of something. In a flash, he thrust the weapon forward with swift speed, and stabbed Deidara in the chest, pinning him to a nearby tree.

"...Run....C-Casana..." The blonde uttered, coughing up blood before his rolled into his head and went limp.

Clamping a hand over her mouth, Casana's eyes widened in terror and shock as she witnessed the entire scene. Small, quiet gasps escaped her as she tried to stifle herself, tears running down her face.

--

"Hey, Teah-nee-chan, good morning!" Naruto greeted.

Teah turned around from where she was walking, and smiled. "Oh, good morning, Naruto."

Nearly a week had passed since they'd returned to Konoha and had learned of the news of murders having been committed here. Not just any kind of murders, but for a change, very unsettling and mysterious rumours that no one could seem to piece together properly. The perpetrator they suspected was nowhere to be found in the village, no trace at all. And still nothing lead to the murders. Guesses were made, questions were asked, but nothing was coming together.

Tsunade had sent a few ANBU out beyond Konoha's borders to investigate in case the perpetrator had escaped, but it was confirmed by the gate guards that they had not seen the suspect, based on eye witness description, leave the village or go near the gate. It was as if he had disappeared into thin air, or was just hiding really well.

On that note, Tsunade also assigned the ninjas of the village to keep an eye out and report if anything happened. She didn't want to alarm the villagers, but made sure that they knew to be more careful and keep their residences secure. It did sure make Naruto a real nervous wreck, since he was on guard just about all the time and didn't know what to think of all this. He was also worried about his friends, always touching base with them and going to see if they were all right.

"You okay?" Naruto asked, concerned. "You didn't see anything, did the killer guy break into the mansion and try to kill you?"

Teah let out a little laugh. "No, no. I'm fine, Naruto. Nothing at all has happened. I can assure you."

"Well that's good!" Naruto grinned, rubbing the back of his head. "Hey! Tsunade gave us the day off today, and I wanted to know if maybe you, Sakura and the others wanted to go off to the Barbecue restaurant to get some ribs and steak? Chouji's got a special discount and he invited us all there!"

_Well, if I'm with Naruto in a group, I won't be faced with urges to kiss him and I'll be able to control myself better._ Teah thought. She nodded. "Sure, Naruto. That sounds like a nice idea. I have to go and train, so why don't I meet you guys there around noon?"

"Okay! I'll go spread the word and see you then!" Naruto gave her a thumbs up.

The Uchiha smiled and giggled. "All right, well I'll see you later Naruto." She waved and then walked off down the street.

That was another problem right there that had been bothering her lately. Since they had shared those kisses nearly a week ago, it had since plagued her and she didn't know what to do or say about it. She was worried about Naruto's feelings in this, and if it would really sabotage their relationship. She cherished his friendship more than anything, and if this ended it, she would never forgive herself. They had not spoken about it since it happened, it was always seemed they'd move on and as if nothing had happened.

_I hope Naruto can forgive me...I never should have kissed him that night. ...And __yet..._ She brought her hand to her mouth, recalling their kisses. _I loved kissing him... He was so gentle, soft, and yet it took my breath away, leaving me wanting so much more..._

--

"Boss! We have a report!"

Sighing, Fujisaki looked up from his notes. "What is it, Mokira?"

"Boss, the ANBU squad of Konoha are on Jason's trail in the Sand Village!" Said Mokira in panic.

"What?!" Fujisaki rushed to the ball producing his minion's image. "Have they seen him?!"

"Not yet, Boss. They don't know he's there. They know he's not in Konoha, and the Hokage sent out the ANBU to check beyond their borders." Mokira explained.

"I see....I see..." Fujisaki said, leaning back in his chair. "Then I suppose we best send him off their trail. Worry not, Himetsu will handle that. In the meantime, how about the Nine-Tails, and the Princess?"

"They have some time off, and are still in Konoha, sir. They know of Jason's trail of carnage, but they have no further information regarding anything of relevance. So we're safe for now. They suspect nothing further than what they already know."

"Right....good then. Keep you and your scout out there and get back to me if at all anything happens."

"Right, Boss!"

"Good then. Himetsu! Come forth!"

Moments after his summoning, Himetsu entered the room. "Yes, sir?"

"We will have to re-locate Jason for the time being now. This time, we will send him somewhere a little different." Fujisaki said.

"Where to, sir?"

Fujisaki smirked. "The Land of the Waves."

-~-

Hey guys, sorry this chapter is so short! No, this is not a sign of me giving up and writing shorter chapters. I just want to leave you all with a cliffhanger. XD And some stuff soon to come.


	7. Messages

"Are you sure the perpetrator hasn't been identified?" Gaara calmly asked the Elite Sand Ninja standing before his desk.

The Elite Ninja, Hakudoshi Tono, shook his head. "No, Kazegake-sama. All we know so far is that the perpetrator does not hold any chakra, so it makes it rather difficult to track them. There is no trace to his killings. Only his victims, but none have survived, as far as we know."

Contemplating this, Gaara slowly nodded. "I see. Have the ANBU arrived here yet?"

"They did a few minutes ago, sir. Keiko is sending them immediately."

At this, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Gaara said.

The door opened and in walked two ANBU Ninjas. Seven were sent to the Sand Village, and these two were the representatives, while the rest of them scouted around the village.

"Kazekage-sama, I am Kyosuke Ikideke." Said the taller one on the left, taking off his mask.

"And I am Hiroshi Ukita." The shorter one on the right followed suit. "We are the representatives of the branch of ANBU sent here to the village from Konoha."

Gaara nodded to them in acknowledgment. "Thank you for coming. Have you found anything relating to the murders?"

"We don't know much, Kazekage-sama." Kyosuke replied. "All we know is that it is likely that the perpetrator is a tall man wearing a Hockey mask, and carries a machete. He also carries no chakra. It is likely he was, or is here. Have you found anything?"

Gaara shook his head, and Hakudoshi nodded in agreement. "We know nothing so far. If the murders committed here were done by the same man you described, then we..." His voice trailed off before he continued. "But it's likely the same man, since the killings leave no trace, other than a sharp weapon, and no traces of chakra either."

"Our men are assisting in searching along the village, and so far there has been nothing, correct?"

"Yes, sir. There has not been."

Hiroshi sighed. "This is a very bizarre mystery."

"Indeed." His partner agreed.

_I'm sure Naruto has gotten himself involved. I wonder if he knows anything we may not..._ Gaara thought.

"If I may, can I request one of you to send a message to the Hokage on my behalf?" Gaara then said. "I wish for her to summon Naruto Uzumaki, and give him the message to come and see me immediately. Before anything is said, he is my friend and I wish to speak with him of this matter."

"Understood. I'll do it, Kazekage-sama." Said Kyosuke, and bowed before he left.

--

"Man! You're saying there's really some psycho out there killing people and wearing a Hockey mask?" Kiba said in disbelief, and gnawed on his spare ribs. "Wow, that's pretty weird!"

"As long as he doesn't eat my food!" Chouji remarked, taking another steak from the grill.

"We've seen the guy!" Naruto said. "Remember, Teah-nee-chan?"

"Yeah, I do." Teah said with a shaky smile. "I also noticed he had a rather bulbous head, which leads me to believe he has some kind of a brain condition. I could be wrong but the size of his skull is definitely fits the bill."

"Great analysis, doctor!" Kiba teased.

"But what if it wasn't him?" Sakura mentioned. "I mean, I know we don't see people running around wearing a Hockey mask, but are we sure it was the same guy?"

"It had to be, Sakura!" Naruto said. "He was carrying a machete, and apparently the weapon marks match up with a machete."

"Hmm...." Sakura pondered this, and nodded. "Yes, I think you could be right. If it is the same guy, of course. But we don't have any leads as to where he at this very point."

"Yeah, that's a drag." Naruto agreed. "Not much we can do, but damn it we gotta do something before even more happens!"

"What a drag..." Shikamaru sighed.

"Don't be such a downer, Shikamaru! This is a real adventure!" Chouji said.

"Yeah, for you." Shikamaru muttered.

Teah took another grilled salmon from the grill and started to cut it up in small pieces. "Well, we can't just give up now. I'm sure we'll find something, even get a lead on where we can go next from here. Besides, the ANBU are doing what they can to track down our perp. Even if they can't rely on chakra."

"So he's got no chakra? Damn, that's hard." Kiba remarked. "Makes it harder on us!"

"I know! It's so weird." Naruto agreed. "But we'll find this guy and definitely put a stop to all of it!"

"I agree with Naruto! Let us not give up or rest until we put this killer behind bars!" Lee proclaimed, making a salute.

"Excuse me, Naruto?"

They all looked up to see Shizune, looking panicked.

"Oh, Shizune-san! What's up?" Naruto asked.

"Lady Tsunade wants to see you, she has a message from the Kazekage." Shizune explained.

"Oh, Gaara? Man, it's been a while since I last saw him! Okay, I'll be right over!" Naruto nodded.

"I'll go with you, Naruto." Teah immediately said, getting up. "If this is about the murders regarding our mysterious perpetrator, I want to see to it that we put a stop to it together."

"Me too." Sakura said, also getting up.

"We'll come too!" Lee said.

Naruto was about to just say no, but he smiled anyway. "Ah, what the heck. I can't say no to you guys! C'mon, let's go."

They cleaned up their plates and left the cash and tip before following Shizune out of the restaurant and back to the Hokage Tower.

--

"Say what?! There's been attacks in the Sand Village?!" Naruto exclaimed. "So that's why Gaara wants to see me!"

Tsunade nodded. "Yep, he had Kyosuke come to me with this message to tell you to go down there and see him immediately."

"Well okay then! We'll get going right away!"

"I'm going too, Tsunade-sama." Teah stated.

"I'm not sure you should there Teah..." Tsunade said, biting her lip. "This could be pretty dangerous and I can't afford to have anything happen to you."

"Ah, don't worry about Teah-nee-chan! She'll be safe because she'll have me around!" Naruto exclaimed happily, bringing an arm around the blushing girl's waist! "You can count on me!"

"I'll be going too, Tsunade-sensei. I want to help put a stop to this." Sakura nodded.

Sighing, Tsunade shook her head. "Well all right, I guess I can't argue then. You win for now, brat. As for you guys, I want you to go and pay a visit to the Mizukage and let him know of all that's been happening, to keep an eye out just in case our perp gets to the Water Country." She said to Kiba, Shikamaru, Lee and Chouji.

"No problem, Hokage! You will be able to count on us!" Lee promised.

"Good then." Tsunade said, and handed Naruto a couple of scrolls. "Take these along, just in case you're in a tight pinch. Now get going, if you leave now you should be there by tomorrow morning."

"Okay, Tsunade-baa-chan! We'll get going right now! C'mon ladies, it's time to go!" Naruto cajoled.

"I can hardly wait." Sakura said dryly, but she smiled anyway.

"You be careful and stay strong and youthful, my darling Sakura!" Lee said, bringing an arm around the rosette.

Sakura giggled and blushed. "With your oh-so encouraging words, how can I refuse?"

Naruto glanced at the couple, and looked away as he inwardly sighed, trying not to show how disappointed he was feeling. It was sure going to be tough adjusting. But he knew that it was all going to be all right in the end. Lee would definitely be able to make Sakura happy, and treat her like a Princess, just as she deserved.

And they would always be close friends, that much he always knew. So it wasn't all tragic in the long run. It would take time to get over it and feel better, but he knew nothing bad would come from it all. Not in the least.

He then glanced toward Teah, the very woman he'd always thought of as a sister. He wasn't sure, but were his feelings toward her different now? Did he want her to be more than just a friend? He just couldn't decide.

Sighing, Naruto knew he had a lot to think about.

--

In the Land of the Waves, at one end of the Great Naruto Bridge, Jason stood around, quite confused. He was now on a bridge, a bridge crossing over _water_, the very thing he despised and feared the most. And he still had no logical explanation as to how he got here so suddenly.

Not that he ever did have a logical explanation for anything, anyway.

Still, even he knew it was impossible to suddenly take a step and end up in an entirely different location. Something was wrong, something just wasn't right. He began to feel as though he were back at Camp Crystal Lake and there were intruders.

Camp Crystal Lake...

As he thought about it, worry pinched his mind as he realized he was far from his home for too long. What if teenagers were already infesting the place with their naughty filth? What if they made a mess of his possessions?

But he had a job to do, and he would never disobey his mother. Not ever. He would make her proud, the only thing in life he ever wanted. To make his mother proud.

There was a town up ahead beyond the bridge, possibly with some potential prey. And hopefully some good hiding places.

Jason slowly crossed the bridge, staying as far away from both ledges as possible so as to avoid looking at the water, keeping his gaze straight ahead as he walked briskly toward his next destination.

Above at the other end was a big sign declaring that this was the Great Naruto Bridge. Although Jason couldn't read, he was curious as to what it was saying.

Meanwhile, inside the town, the bridge builder, Tazuna, was heading into the town to go do some grocery shopping. Since having completed the Great Naruto Bridge nearly four years ago, as planned, the island was doing so much better. An increase of their exports, the economy, and even more housing along the island, and the surrounding islands around. And they no longer had to worry about any horrible corporate executive types trying to ruin them.

Now he was able to provide a lot better for his grandson and daughter. Which was truly a blessing, and all he ever wanted.

_Another great day._ Tazuna thought, inhaling the fresh scent of the surrounding ocean.

Casting a glance toward the Great Naruto Bridge, the elderly bridge builder smiled as he could remember back when Naruto and his team had helped save them from Gato, and Zabuza and Haku. Looking to that bridge, he remembered why he had named it just that, and he never looked back.

But now something caught his eye. Someone was approaching the town over the bridge. A tall man wearing a Hockey mask, and the machete in his hand was very unsettling.

Frowning, Tazuna debated whether or not to confront this strange mystery, or just take the safe way out.

"Excuse me sir, can we help you?" A gate guard said, going toward Jason.

Staring down at him, Jason just tilted his head as he tried to comprehend what he was saying. He caught the words "help you", which meant this was obviously not an enemy. At least he hoped.

Not sure how to respond, he just kept on walking.

"Sir! Excuse me, wait, sir! Just tell me who you are and what you're doing here, that's all I'm asking!" The guard persisted.

He was sounding panicked, maybe even a little scared by now. It didn't matter.

"Stop! Freeze! I said freeze!" The guard said, pulling out a pistol. "Freeze! I said freeze!"

Stopping in his tracks, Jason turned around and stared at the guard, tilting his head. It was just one of those times that he found people confusing.

"Freeze! Put your hands in the air!" The guard warned. "Hands where I can see them!"

Still confused, Jason just stared at him and then slowly raised his hands, still holding his machete.

"Drop your weapon! Drop it, now!"

And he did. This man was annoying him by now. If he got in the way...

"Good...now stay right where you are." The guard slowly approached, not tearing his eyes from the giant.

Jason watched carefully, keeping his hands in the air as the guard approached. This was not a good sign, he was about to invade his personal space. He had better not think to touch him, either.

"I have a warrant to perform a cavity search any who come into this town. Keep your hands in the air." The guard said, and then put his gun away, and then started to frisk him.

Right then, Jason pushed back the guard and then bent down to pick up his machete. Before the guard could react, he was then violently stabbed in the stomach, coughing up blood.

Withdrawing his weapon, Jason shoved him to the ground and then walked off.

Seeing this, Tazuna quickly ducked into the nearest shop. What he just saw was simply shocking, and he just couldn't believe it. What was going on? Who was this man?

--

"Hey guys, we've got a major storm coming. We better stop here." Sakura said, indicating toward a Motel in the village they had stopped in to get some dinner.

"Good idea, Sakura." Kakashi agreed with a nod. "I'll radio Sai and Yamato and let them know where we are. We are only about 85 kilometres from the Sand Village, we'll be there in the morning if we get up early."

They went to the Motel and checked in, in which they got two rooms. One for Sakura and Teah to share, the other for Kakashi and Naruto to share. All the rooms had two beds, a bathroom, a closet, a table, two chairs, and a television. It started to rain as they went into their rooms to get settled in.

To assist the ANBU, Sai and Yamato had gone along with them and went ahead to different areas of the Wind Countries to investigate other places in case their perpetrator would be there, and to warn just in case. So far, they found nothing that lead to any clues. No footprints, no traces, nothing. It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

So they hoped to find something from Gaara, and even work to put two and two together to form a better picture. And maybe even get a name on top of that.

Night was rolling in, and the rain was coming down a lot harder by now. There was an awning along the Motel rooms, so people could access their rooms and the office without getting caught in bad weather like this.

Teah was standing outside, staring at the rain apprehensively as she leaned against the wall, protected by the awning. She was already in her nightdress, and Sakura was in their room, reading in her bed before going off to sleep. They all wanted to get to sleep at a decent hour so that they could get up early the next morning.

"Ahhh, fresh air!" Naruto exclaimed to himself as he came outside, already in his PJ's. He noticed Teah and smiled. "Hey, Teah-nee-chan! What'cha doing here?"

"Getting some air." Teah shrugged.

"Oh. So am I, yeah." Naruto said, going over to stand next to her. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Teah said. "Why would I not be okay?"

"Well you've been acting kind of strange the past week. Since we...um....well, you know." Naruto said, blushing slightly. "I already said it was okay, no need to worry!"

She smiled at him sadly. "I know, I know what you said. I just still worry about it, because I don't know where we'll go from here. We can't just go on like nothing happened, and yet I don't expect anything from it. ...But I guess I may as well just get it out on the table."

"Huh?" Naruto asked, cocking his head. "Get what out on the table?"

"Naruto...I...." Teah's cheeks became crimson. "....I love you. I love you more than just as a friend. I've been in love with you for as long as I can remember."

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. Although he was partly suspicious of her affections, it was still surprising to actually hear it. "Y-You do...?"

"Yes....I do. I know it sounds odd, coming from me. A girl who fell in love with her own cousin."

"There's nothing wrong with that, Teah-nee-chan!"

Teah sighed. "I know, but it's still beyond the norm. ...I still do love Sasuke, I can't change that. He's important to me, and I just can't forget the better times we've had. But...I know he's never going to come back, at least not on his own if we do fail." Tears ran down her cheeks. "I can hope, pray, and sit in my room waiting for some kind of miracle all I want, but it won't do a thing. I have to move on with my life, Naruto. Dwelling in the past is not going to get me anywhere, and I refuse to let anything stop me from living the life I want. You inspired me to believe that, and I never forgot it, and I never will. Naruto...being in love with you is part of what I know will let me move on. I'll understand if you don't feel the same way, and I'll always be your friend. I...just wanted you to know." She lowered her head. "I love you so much...and I cherish our friendship more than anything."

Still pretty surprised, Naruto drank it all in and just couldn't believe it. She actually did love him. Love. It was all true. It all made sense now. He couldn't believe it, just couldn't believe it, but it was all there in plain black and white. She had said she loved him.

But how did he feel?

_That's just it, I don't know...do I? I mean, she's a great gal and I know we could really make each other happy, but is it what I want? Do I really love her in return? Can I return her feelings...? Would we be able to be together since she's a Princess and all? Isn't there laws against her being with a commoner?_ Naruto thought.

It was tough, he wasn't sure how he felt, and yet somehow he knew. But was he really certain? Should he act on being with her? Or should he just let it slide? But what if he did love her, didn't know it, and was missing out on the love of his life?

It was confusing.

Looking at her, Naruto decided to see how he felt, right then and there. If it was possible. He approached her and gently took hold of her chin to make her face him. She blushed, and he smiled, leaning up to meet her lips. Teah was surprised at first, but she relaxed and kissed him back.

_I'll figure it out eventually, Teah-nee-chan...I just need to be sure. I hope I can love you..._

_--_

"Boss, I have just received a report from Mokira." Himetsu said as he entered the underground meeting room.

"What is it, Himetsu?" Fujisaki turned from the crystal ball toward his right hand man.

"The Nine-Tails and the Princess are headed West for the Sand Village. They are now in a village about 85 kilometres away. They are on Jason's trail, so to speak, but are several steps behind."

"Hmm...I see....this could get risky..." Fujisaki nodded. "Well, if it's Jason they want...then they'll get him."

"What do you mean, Boss?"

"I have a plan, dear Himetsu...a change of plans, but it will work to our advantage for sure. With it, we will have the Princess, and the Shinobi countries will soon fear us!"

His evil laughter echoed along the room.


	8. More Chaos

Well, I decided to bring in Sasuke. As much as I dislike Team Hawk, I'll bring them in too. Oh, and they're not with the Akatsuki in this. I'm sorry, but they will never be the Akatsuki to me. They were just fine the way they were.

It's also to help add to the little conflict Teah has in being in love with two men. XD

--~~--

"What?! A man came across the bridge and murdered the guard?" Tsunami uttered in disbelief.

Tazuna nodded solemnly. "I'm afraid so. I saw it with my own eyes, and I managed to escape as quick as I could. There was no way in the world I would stand a chance against him. He was a big man, and carried a machete."

"What are we going to do, Grandad?!" Inari asked in worry.

"I don't know, Inari. But we're going to have to do something, even if we have to get everyone together." Tazuna said. "...If only Naruto was here. I know he would stand up to this titan like he was a just a mouse."

"You're right, Grandad..." Inari murmured. It was one of those times he missed Kaiza, the man he thought of as his father.

--

"Boss, are you sure that was a good idea to send him there?" Himetsu questioned.

"Though I tell you not to question my plans, but I see your point..." Fujisaki nodded. "Perhaps...we shall just cause a little stirrup and then move him elsewhere. But this time...we'll have him right where those brats want him. If they find him, we find the Princess...and the Nine-Tails."

"Excellent plan, sir."

"I am glad you agree... Now then, Mokira, any news?"

"Sorry about that, Boss! The Nine-Tails and the Princess, along with a friend, and Copy-Ninja Kakashi have arrived in the Sand Village right as we speak!" Came Mokira's voice from the crystalline ball.

"Excellent... Things are going just as planned! Keep it up, my minions...and this world will be OURS!!"

--

Around the island, Jason kept hidden in the shadows, and was still confused as to where he was now. Why was he in such a confusing place, surrounded by water? What was going on here? He didn't remember his mother giving him the next order.

Of course, after a minute, he forgot why he was even suspicious in the first place. So he pressed on, searching for potential prey. The island was small, he knew that.

It was hard, since he wasn't in his own place and couldn't kill when someone trespassed. That still worried him, the fact he was away from his home, his camp for so long now.

"Hey! You there! I know what you did! You killed the guard, you son of a bitch! Get the hell off the island!" Yelled a voice from behind him. "Explain yourself!"

Jason slowly turned around, meeting a single man holding a torch. He tilted his head, wondering what he was yelling about, and why he was using naughty words.

"Didn't you hear me, you dumb shit?! Explain yourself! Now!"

Getting thoroughly annoyed, Jason approached the man and stood a couple of feet away from him, glaring down at him. At his towering 6'6" height, he was pretty intimidating, and most especially with the machete he had in a sheath.

"Er...um...." The frightened man dropped his torch and backed away a few steps.

Jason wasted no time. He grabbed the man's throat with both his gloved hands, and squeezed, really hard. The man gasped and struggled to breathe, grabbing at his hands to try to loosen them up, but with no avail. Jason squeezed harder, and after a few seconds, the man went limp after being choked to death. He tossed him aside into a nearby building and continued on his way.

"WHOA! Stop it right there, you bastard!"

Again?

Jason turned back around, and this time didn't waste a moment. He held onto the teenage girl's shoulder with one hand, and thrust two fingers into her mouth, pulling at her jaw. The girl screamed and tried to bite down, but it had no effect at all. Jason swiftly ripped out her jaw, with slight difficulty, and tossed it away.

The girl thrashed, bleeding rapidly and then smashing her firsts against his chest. He grabbed her wrists and then snapped them in half as though they were twigs. Picking up the fallen torch, he finished the job and set her on fire. Leaving her to die, he walked off away.

--

"Hey, Naruto. Glad you made it here." Gaara smiled at his friend.

"Hey Gaara! Long time no see, old buddy!" Naruto shook his hand. "So hey, what is it you wanted to see me about?"

"I'm sure you've heard what's been going on in Konoha, and here in the Sand Village, correct?" Gaara said. "It's been said by eyewitness description that the perpetrator is a big, tall man wearing a Hockey mask and carrying a machete?"

"Yeah! Yeah, that's the guy!" Naruto nodded rapidly. "Yeah, we're pretty sure it was him! And Teah-nee-chan and I saw him!"

"It's true, Kazekage-sama." Teah said solemnly. "I was with Naruto that day we saw him."

"Call me Gaara, no need to be so formal, Princess." Gaara said kindly, and turned back to Naruto. "So, it's pretty much established that we're dealing with the same man, then. Do you have any further information?"

"Well, we're not sure...all we pretty much know is that he's got no chakra, so he's no ninja or anything. I guess he relies on his strength and that machete he's got. I haven't seen him kill for myself, but I can bet he gets the job done. What's happened here in the village?"

"Four teenagers were killed in the Oasis Park, and then several teenagers were killed in an abandoned house in the outskirts of the village while having a really big party." Gaara stated. "Another someone was killed in Oasis Park. All the deaths were unrelated to one another, so it's obvious he doesn't seem to have a pattern. He's killing at random."

"Man, that's weird..." Naruto said, frowning a bit in thought. "So we're dealing with some guy with no chakra, pretty strong, uses a machete, and killed so many people in less than two weeks, and not to mention he went from Konoha to here in a matter of what, days? It seems weird."

"It is quite odd, and we now can't seem to find any traces." Gaara mentioned, holding up a report. "All of our elites have searched every nook and cranny of the village, searched every house, and nothing. No evidence, no traces. Just his victims."

"Yeah! We saw that too, back in Konoha!" Naruto exclaimed. "We've got no trace of him at all! Who knows where he could be going next!"

"Have you sent out anyone beyond the village's borders?" Kakashi then asked.

Gaara nodded. "We have had them search the desert beyond the village, and no trace there either. We are having them go out further."

"Man, this is so weird! What's going on here?! Heck, we don't even know the guy's freaking name!" Naruto cried.

The red-haired Kazekage nodded in agreement. "This will be hard. But we're all doing our best. In the meantime, you guys should take it easy here in the village. They recently opened up a very luxurious hotel in the central square, you can stay there." He then smiled. "And tell them that I sent you all there, and you will get a special discount. I'll let you know if we find out anything else."

That was when Naruto's stomach growled. Very loudly.

"Heh heh! Well, I really AM hungry after a day of traveling! Let's go, guys! Hope that room service includes ramen!"

The girls laughed and Kakashi smiled behind his mask as they followed him out of Gaara's office.

--

"Are we all ready?"

"Yes!"

"He killed Hikaru and Sakajima! Let's get him!"

"Right, then let's go!"

Having gathered the townsfolk of the island, with any kind of weapon in hand, were all ready to revolt against the danger that was now threatening them. It would be tricky, and maybe they would lose a few, but, they were willing to sacrifice for the good of the village. The Land of the Waves were going to once again regain their reputation as a peaceful place.

"Onward!" Tazuna declared, pointing ahead.

All the villagers, including Tsunami and Inari, all chorused cheers and battle cries before they set out.

--

"Boss, what should we do? They're out to get him, and I think that could lead to some problems." Himetsu stated.

"Hmmm...you may have a point, my good man. Let us get him out. ...For now. I have a good plan. We'll let him have a little fun, but this time...in the Earth Country." Fujisaki mused. "And then, they can meet him halfway there..."

"Excellent plan, Boss."

"Of course, my good man."

"Boss! Boss! We have another urgent report!" Came Mokira's voice.

Fujisaki sighed heavily. "What is it, Mokira?"

"The Konoha Missing Nin, Sasuke Uchiha, is on the move not far from our location! He is making his way around the Wind Country borders."

"Hmmm...Sasuke Uchiha, is it? Well...this could be interesting... He is the Princess's cousin, I believe. ...And it appears he has strong feelings for her, am I right?"

"Affirmative, Boss." Said Himetsu.

"I see...I see...well, perhaps we could use this lad to our advantage... Keep out there Mokira, and report back if anything comes up."

"Right, Boss!"

--

"Come ON, Sasuke. We don't need those two, we can continue on our own together." Karin cooed, hugging Sasuke on the arm. "You know we would have so much more fun together."

Sasuke glared at her and wrenched his arm away. "Karin, I have told you before, get away from me. You are not here as some kind of a concubine. I need your skills, nothing more."

Throwing her arms up in frustration, she stalked away and stood against a tree.

"Heh heh, better luck next time, Kare!" Suigetsu hollered, laughing as he drank down some soda. "In the afterlife!"

"Oh will you shut up!?" Karin yelled, punching him in the face. But of course it only reformed itself. "You're the reason Sasuke doesn't like me!"

"Or maybe you're just a dumb violent bitch who doesn't have a clue about things that aren't going your way. Maybe you're too blind, which is why you wear glasses." Suigetsu grinned.

"I happen to need glasses, you God damn shark fin!"

Sasuke ignored the two of them as they argued amiably in the background, as did Juugo.

They were not far from the Wind Country by now, and also close to the Earth Country, and they had heard some gossip around about the strange murders that occurred in Konoha, and then in the Sand Village. It was meant to be kept hush hush, but of course, the word was going around. A need for gossip? Or even a safety measure to warn others?

_No chakra, leaves no traces other than his victims, and seems to move fast...this is indeed intriguing._ Sasuke thought to himself. _And I can bet Naruto is involved in this. ...Then that means she must be, also._

He shook his head at the thought and looked up at the full moon apprehensively. No matter what he did, he could not seem to bury the feelings, the bonds, everything he's ever had with those close to him. Naruto...and Teah, especially. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but he was damn sure it wouldn't be _this_ hard.

_I wonder if they found anything..._ Sasuke thought, trying to keep his mind off his dilemmas, and focused on the matter at hand.

"Whatever! I'm going to go now and find a bathroom." Karin muttered, walking away from their little camp. It was a pain trying to go to the bathroom when there was no available facility around when you were a girl.

She went into the forest, and beyond that forest was the gate leading to the Hidden Rock Village.

"Stupid Suigetsu...it's his fault I can't get Sasuke into bed with me...God, what am I going to do to win him over?!" Karin growled to herself. "Maybe it's that slut of a cousin of his...why her, she's a family member for God's sake. What does she have that I don't?! Damn it..."

She pulled down her short shorts, and then her under pants, and heard a rustling along with the snapping of twigs. Pausing, she looked around.

"Sasuke...? Sasuke is that you...?" Karin smiled in a sultry way and did a little dance. "Come on out, you bad boy...you can have me."

No response. Just the whistle of the wind and rustling of the bushes.

"...Suigetsu?! That had better not be you, you damn shark! If you're peeking at me, I will kill you! Now go away!" She yelled. "What the hell!? Will you stop hiding?! I know you're there!"

Quickly she pulled her shorts up and started to move away, now feeling a bit nervous. Was there someone else here? Her senses weren't detecting chakra, for some odd reason.

"...Hello?! Who's out there?! It's not funny anymore, come on!" She yelled.

Nervously backing away, Karin felt her back hit against something hard. But it was too soft to be a tree...

She turned around, and craned her neck upwards to see Jason standing there, looking down at her. The eye holes of his mask were dark, so she couldn't see his eyes or his face.

"Who the hell are you?! Were you just watching me?! Because if you were, then you can just forget getting with me! I'll take you down if you don't stop this-"

Jason drew his machete and sliced the blade across her throat in one swift move. Gurgling and coughing up blood, Karin stumbled and fell to the ground, bleeding to death.

--

"Hey, what's taking her so long?" Suigetsu wondered. "She's been gone way over five minutes. I'd better go find her."

Sasuke shrugged it off. "Do as you wish."

"Whatever, man." Suigetsu picked up his sword taken from Zabuza and walked off into the forest. "Hey! Karin! ...Karin? Hello? Hey! Where are ya? Karin!"

The forest was deathly quiet, other than the sounds of the wind and the occasional hooting of an owl. And Karin was nowhere in sight.

"Kare? Kare? Where are ya? Helloooo? Come on, you're not gonna scare me if you come jumping out from behind a tree! Seriously, come on out! Hello?"

As he walked around, his feet stopped up against something soft on the ground. Looking down, his eyes widened in surprise and he stumbled back a few steps.

"H-Holy crap! Oh God! SASUKE, JUUGO! COME OVER HERE!"

--

"Man, do you really have to go, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yes, apparently it's very urgent. But I know you guys can handle yourselves. If you do need something, you can radio Sai and Yamato, and you can meet up with them. Until then, stay here for a while and try to gather information. I'll do the same while I'm back there. Be careful, got it?"

Naruto nodded. "Okay, Kakashi-sensei! You can count on us!"

"Naruto's right, we'll do our best." Sakura agreed.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine." Teah nodded also.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it. If you do need me, you know where to find me." Kakashi winked and then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto sighed hard. "Man, this is gonna be even harder now! What are we going to do?"

"We'll figure it all out soon, Naruto. The answers are right in front of us, we just have to know where to look." Sakura assured him.

"I can help you." Came a new voice.

Turning around, they all were surprised to meet with someone they never expected to see.


	9. His name is Jason

Just a note, what's in Bold Italics _**like this**_, is Casana narrating her flashback.

But yeah, we're finally here! Naruto and friends finally learn his name! And can do something about it. Ohhh, who knows what will come next?

Also, Karin fans, you see that I killed her off in the last chapter. It was NOT to spite any of you. Yes, I do dislike her a lot, so in a way that was kind of my reflection on that, but I also wanted Jason to kill a Naruto character. I just couldn't think of who. He may kill someone else, if it comes up. We'll see. So please don't yell and whine and complain about Karin being dead. GET OVER IT. It's a FANFIC. So relax, okay? Don't complain, show some respect.

Trust me, I've read my share of fanfictions that have characters I liked die, and yes, although it saddened me, I just moved on and didn't complain to them. It fit the stories, too.

--

"Hey...I remember you! You're that girl, Casana!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise. "You were that girl that came and asked Teah-nee-chan for help!"

"...You joined the Akatsuki..." Teah uttered, the most shocked.

"That's not important right now." Casana said firmly. "And as much as this might hurt both of us, I want to help you catch this guy. I've been in hiding here, and I followed him around the village. I saw him commit those murders, and I knew this was the same guy who caused havoc in Konoha. ...I know everything about him."

"How do we know we can trust you?" Sakura asked, suspicious.

Casana smiled. "Because I'm the only one who knows who he is. I'm a Kusabana with the inherited bloodline trait, the Nentougan. I'm after him, anyway."

"The ability to people's minds and sense their brain waves from a distance." Sakura confirmed.

"Okay, so until we take care of him, we'll team up?" Naruto said.

The brunette nodded. "Yes. We'll put our differences aside for now, and help each other. But you can't breathe a word of this to anyone. We'll take care of him ourselves. Don't worry, our strengths alone will work."

"Fine, okay. So who is this guy?" Teah wanted to know.

They all sat at the table in Naruto's Hotel room, and Casana cleared her throat before speaking.

"His name is Jason Voorhees. He's from the United States. He drowned in Camp Crystal Lake back in 1957 when he was 11 years old, because the counselors weren't paying attention. And somehow, he came back from the dead and killed anyone who came back to the camp. His mother, Pamela, killed all the counselors of the camp one year later, and since then no one has survived when they tried to re-open the camp. He and his mother have a very close relationship, and always relied on one another. The children of the camp always made fun and tried to hurt Jason because of his bulbous head and other deformities in his face. You see, he has a very severe mental condition, also. I forget the name of it, but it involves having too much liquid inside his brain."

"Hydrocephalus." Teah confirmed. "That would explain the size of his head, and the fact he doesn't speak."

"What's Hydro...whatever that word just was?" Naruto asked curiously.

"It's a mental condition otherwise known as 'water on the brain', which kind of means exactly what the title pertains, the brain is filled with too much liquid and it causes many imbalances, and also known to cause mental retardation."

"That's not all." Casana continued. "I'm suspecting foul play is involved, but his mind is very hard to read, because of his condition. But apparently, his mother told him to come here to the Five Shinobi Countries and kill people here, mostly 'naughty' teenagers. I really don't understand that, because we're thousands of miles away from Camp Crystal Lake, and he lurks there and kills anyone who trespasses, along with immoral standards. And now all of a sudden he's here, and Pamela somehow knew about us, which doesn't make sense to me because no one in the rest of the world knows, unless they need to. And also, his mother was killed a long time ago back in 1980, a counselor took her machete and sliced off her head. Apparently Jason saw this and swore revenge."

"...Wow...poor guy." Naruto murmured. "I gotta say, a part of me feels bad for him."

"I know." Teah agreed. "His past sure explains a lot of things."

"That's just it." Casana sighed. "But there's something else that leads me to suspect he's being tricked. Because soon after he was contacted by his supposed dead mother, he suddenly ended up in Konoha. No history of going by boat or plane, not that he'd be able to, anyway. So I think he's not here on his own accord. Someone brought him here, and are controlling him like a puppet. Plus, I saw him disappear right before my eyes, like he walked into an invisible door or something. I didn't understand it, since he isn't of us ninja, but I think someone's doing that for him."

"What happened?" Sakura asked.

_Flashback_

"_No....no..." Casana uttered behind her mouth as she watched him die. "No...!"_

_Jason paused, peering around the park as he could've sworn he heard something, or a small voice. He couldn't tell. Pulling the machete out from his fallen victim, Jason walked a few steps around some trees, looking around for the source of the noise. Someone was out there, he knew it._

_**He killed my...partner, Deidara. That's why I'm after him, otherwise I wouldn't have even bothered in the first place. So while I was hiding, I decided to read his mind and find out who he was.**_

"_N...Nentougan...." Casana uttered under her breath, making a hand seal._

_Her eyes flashed bright pink, and his mind became an open book. She saw it all, his life, his victims dying, his mother, everything. _

_She stepped forward to get a better look at him in the shadows, but a twig snapped under her foot, making a really loud noise. Jason immediately snapped his gaze toward her, but Casana quickly dematerialized her body into vines, wrapping around the tree like she hadn't even been there._

_Marching over to the spot where she once stood, Jason looked around, cautious, and then retreated as he could see no one was there._

_**I managed to hide myself in time before he saw me. I saw why he was here and why he killed people the way he did, but I had to know more. Something just didn't seem right at all about this. So I followed him for a while, until he disappeared.**_

_End of Flashback_

"So that's what we're dealing with..." Naruto murmured. "We've got this guy Jason to go after."

"Right. But...then again, he's not completely responsible. He didn't come here on his own accord." Casana said. "I realize now we can't really just kill him."

"But why?!" Naruto stood right up. "We have to, he killed all those people and your partner! Don't you want him dead?!"

"Yes, and no." Casana said calmly. "But he can't die. He has some kind of an immortality. But Jason isn't the main problem we're dealing with. It's whoever is controlling him. I don't know what they're planning, but I'm sure as hell it's not any good."

"You can say that again. So, if we find Jason, we'll find his puppet master." Teah said. "We'll have to go find him."

"Right!" Naruto agreed.

"Glad you're seeing it my way." Casana said. "We'll head out in a little while, because during the day is too risky."

"How will we find him? He's probably several kilometres away!" Sakura reminded them. "So far it's been hard to even try to track him down."

"We're going to go see the spirit in the village's spring, of course." Casana said, getting up. "The great spirits of light that watch over the great Shinobi Countries all reside in springs located around their respective villages. They watch over everything, so if anyone knows where to find Jason, she will."

"Wow, I didn't even know there were spirits!" Naruto uttered in surprise. "But why didn't you go see the spirit in the first place?"

"I was on my way, but then I heard you guys were in town, and since you two are vessels of the demons we're after, I was intrigued. So when I found out you were all looking for Jason, who met the description, I figured to give you guys a hand." She smiled.

"That's convenient." Teah remarked. "Okay, so where is the spirit's spring?"

"Outside the village borders in the back, follow me."

--

"Did you see who did this?" Sasuke demanded.

Suigetsu quickly shook his head. "No, honest I didn't! I just went looking around for her and I found her body here, like this!"

Juugo studied Karin's body apprehensively, inspecting her wounds. "Well, we know it was a very sharp weapon that cut her in the throat. And it had to have been done fast enough before Karin could attack."

Sighing heavily, Sasuke stood up and ran a hand through his hair. He needed Karin for her abilities, but now that she was dead, the team was broken up a bit, and he couldn't use her abilities like he planned.

"...We will find the one who killed her, and get our revenge." Sasuke said in a low voice. "Let's go."

Obediently without question, Juugo and Suigetsu followed after him out of the forest.

--

"HELP!!! OH GOD SOMEONE HELP!!!" The teenage boy ran as quick as he could, the bag of hard drugs falling from his pocket as he went.

Jason chased after him, and then swiftly threw his machete at the running boy. It struck him in the back of the head and he fell to the ground, instantly dead. Going over to the fallen boy, Jason grabbed the handle, placing his foot on the corpse's back for leverage, and pulled it back out.

"Jason....Jason, my dear, special boy..."

Hearing the voice of his mother, Jason whipped around in surprise. He wasn't expecting to see her so suddenly, and in such a new place, too. Pamela, or rather, a genjutsu, stood a few feet away from him.

"Jason, there are very naughty people on your trail....go to them, and let them know you're not to be messed with! Go Jason, let them know what real fear tastes like! Wait for them...they will come to you, Jason."

A little confused at the sudden change of pace, Jason gave a slow nod in understanding, despite he didn't know some words his mother said. But never in his life, or afterlife, would he disobey his mother.

After a moment, Pamela was gone again. This still made Jason confused, wondering why she was always disappearing like that. But he trudged off near the border of the village to hide, until these people came. Whoever they were.

--

"Here it is." Casana said, leading the group to a beautiful oasis spring. It was tucked away behind the village walls. "No one really knows about it, or even care to, since a lot of the time they tend to use their own resources to find things and all. But the spirits are here, if needed."

"Wow, amazing!" Naruto exclaimed. "So, how does this work?"

"Just watch. O Great Spirit Suna, watcher of the Wind Country's very own Village of the Sand, hear my words and arise!"

The spring seemed to light up as the water glowed with a luminous light, and so did the rocks and trees surrounding it. An orb of light then rose up from the water and a shape surrounded it, taking the form of a woman wearing the traditional garb of the village, and holding the orb. Her entire body seemed to be made of light, but it didn't hurt to look at it. They all stared with great amazement, not having expected anything like this.

"The one you seek...lies to the North of here...the Earth Country..." Suna gestured her arm toward the north. "Go there, and you shall come to the one you seek. But beware...for the dark ones now hunt you."

"Wait, what do you mean dark ones?" Sakura asked, feeling uneasy about this all of a sudden.

"You will soon see, child...now go, and make haste." The spirit said, and then faded away.

It was silent for a few minutes among the group, until Naruto couldn't take it any longer and turned to the girls.

"Well ladies, you heard her! Let's go to the Earth Country and go find our man!"

"Okay snook, we'll go right now." Teah teased affectionately, ruffling his hair playfully, making Naruto scowl and pout. "C'mon, we better hurry."

Sakura and Casana both nodded and they then headed north to go and reach the Earth Country. With great speed, since they all had to hurry.

--

"Boss, they're on Jason's trail." Himetsu announced. "Shall we proceed as planned, sir?"

Fujisaki chuckled evilly. "Of course, Himetsu...they'll meet halfway, just as planned... Heh heh...things are going quite well.... I think I'll let Jason have a little...fun with them, before we soon kidnap the Princess..."

"Boss, we have a report! Sasuke Uchiha and the remainder of his team are also on search for Jason!" Mokira's voice came on the ball.

"Is that right?" Fujisaki raised an eyebrow and snickered. "Well well...so he's committed a little crime on them too, I see. Keep an eye on them, Mokira...this could be good. We'll handle him, soon enough."

--

Not far from the borders of the Earth Country, Sasuke, Juugo, and Suigetsu were wandering about, considering their options of where they could start in searching for their target. It was difficult, they knew, since apparently the perpetrator had left no traces, other than Karin, and had no signs of chakra, either. It was proving to be far more difficult than they'd expected.

"So yeah, what're we gonna do then?" Suigetsu wanted to know.

"Would you shut up and let me think?!" Sasuke yelled in frustration. "I don't know yet!" He sighed, and then perked up as something came to his senses. He looked toward the distance, apprehensively, and yet a little surprised.

"What's wrong, Sasuke?" Juugo questioned.

".....Teah...." Sasuke mumbled under his breath, so the other two wouldn't hear. But Suigetsu heard him.

"Teah? Who's she? ...Oh wait! You mean that cousin o' yours you're always thinking about? Ha! Won't this be a family reunion! Sooo...want me to kill her?" He put his hand on Zabuza's sword that he'd taken.

Sasuke's eyes flashed with the Sharingan and he grabbed Suigetsu by the wrist, glaring hard at him. "If you even so much as lay a filthy hand on her, I swear you will regret it." It was a promise, not a threat. "And secondly, she's not alone. Naruto is with her, and so is Sakura. And there's someone else...someone who's chakra is quite powerful, intriguing. So don't you do a thing until I say so."

Growling, Suigetsu wrenched his arm away. "Stupid Sasuke, you never let me have any fun."

"You will in time, Suigetsu." Sasuke rolled his eyes. "...Perhaps, we should see what they're up to."

--

As they walked, Teah suddenly paused and looked down at her necklace, the one of the Uchiha crest. It was blinking with a red glow. Frowning, she stared at it with surprise. She stopped in her tracks.

"Teah-nee-chan? What's wrong?" Naruto asked, suddenly stopping.

"...Either Sasuke or Itachi is nearby." Teah said. "My necklace blinks when there is either danger or another Uchiha nearby. It blinks red when an Uchiha is nearby, and white if it's danger."

"What?! Sasuke or Itachi?!" Naruto gasped.

Casana gasped. "Oh no...if it's Itachi, he'll find me out and report to the Leader. Oh shit..."

"But if it's Sasuke, maybe we can..." Sakura's voice trailed off.

"Damn, this could be a great opportunity to bring him back! But we gotta...ugh! Darn it all! What are we going to do!?" Naruto cried.

"We're going to have to find way to see who this is without them finding us, and if worse comes to worse, we'll have to be more elusive." Casana said, and turned around to keep going, but bumped into something big, hard, but too soft to be a tree. And they weren't even in a forest.

She looked up, and saw a pair of droopy brown eyes staring down at her from behind the holes of a Hockey mask.


	10. Taking Control

The whole first part of Jason mistaking Casana for his mother was inspired by the second movie, _Friday The 13__th__ Part II_. I just couldn't resist. C:

--

A pregnant silence was following the group as they all stared at the grand titan of horror standing before them, with Casana dangerously close to him. He stared down at her, and she looked back up at him, standing her ground and showing she wasn't afraid. Deep down, she kind of was. If he was capable of killing a shinobi, what made her think she stood a chance.

"Stand your ground." Teah whispered to Naruto and Sakura. "Don't run, don't show you're afraid. We'll look like his potential victims."

Naruto nodded. "Right."

"Okay." Sakura agreed.

Jason looked up from Casana and stared at the other three, hearing Teah talking. He tilted his head, wondering what she was talking about, and why they weren't doing anything.

"Jason." Casana said in her most firm tone.

Hearing his name, Jason snapped his gaze back to her, staring at her. He tilted his head, taking in her looks from the light of the moonlight above, he lowered his machete, his arms sprawled at his sides. Her dark hair, those eyes, and that green sweater she had on...she reminded him of his mother. Could she have been his mother?

_Why isn't he attacking me? He usually attacks a victim on sight, providing they do have immorals. Is it because of that? ...No, wait....he has a tendency to mistake people who resemble his mother for her, especially with the green sweater._ Casana thought. _Wait a second, that's it! If we can get him on our side..._

"Jason...it's okay. You've done well, and mother is pleased with you." She said softly.

"What?! Mother?!" Naruto yelled in surprise. "What the hell is that supposed to mean!?"

Jason snapped his head toward Naruto, his eyes narrowing and he raised his machete again. He gently pushed Casana aside and stomped over to the three of them.

"Jason! Stop! Mother is speaking to you!" Casana scolded as though he were a child. And given his mental capacity, she wasn't too far off.

Stopping in his tracks, Jason turned back around as she said that. In his vision, he could see and hear his mother saying that to him.

"_Jason! Stop! Mother is speaking to you!"_

Lowering his machete, Jason tilted his head and stood his ground, listening to her respectfully.

"Good boy...good Jason. These people are here to help you, Jason...here to get you back home..." Casana said softly, approaching him. "Kneel down, Jason...go on."

Taking a few steps toward her, Jason slowly did as he was told and knelt down on one knee, his droopy brown eyes looking up at her with love and trust.

"That's my boy...that's a good boy, Jason." She said, smiling. "My special, special boy... Mother is pleased, Jason...you've done quite well. But now it's time to take a new course of action..."

Jason tilted his head, not quite understanding what the last part she was saying was about. But he smiled under his mask, happy that he had pleased his mother, which to him was as if it were his birthday. Despite his dead-looking eyes, it showed how happy he was.

Blinking a little, Casana felt her heart flutter deep in her chest. She knew from his background that his mother was the only person in his life, the only one he loved more than anything, and the one thing he thrived for was to make her proud.

She knew that feeling....

It was almost nostalgic.

Reaching into one of his ragged pockets of his tattered jacket, Jason pulled out his most precious possession next to his mother's machete, which was his mother's locket, containing a photo of him and her on either side. He held it to her, to give it back to her and let her know he kept it, that it meant something to him.

Curious, Casana gently took the locket, handling it with care. It seemed pretty old, but was still intact. She ran her finger along the delicate design, and then carefully opened it, gazing at the photos inside. On the right side was his mother, when she was fairly younger. On the other side was of him when he was a child. It must have been his mother's, which is why he'd given it to her.

She didn't feel right taking it, since she wasn't his mother. But she decided to hold onto it, to help in keeping up the facade and keeping him on their side, and making a note to give it back later on, since it meant a lot to him.

She smiled at him fondly. "Thank you, Jason, you took good care of it, I'm quite pleased." Taking a chance, she knelt down before him, watching as his gaze followed her. "My special boy..."

Beaming in his own, strange way, Jason felt so much love and happiness toward his mother, just as he always did. He couldn't help but reach out and touch her, his gloved hand touching her cheek.

Naruto nearly moved forward, but Teah put her hand on his arm and shook her head. He nodded and looked back at the touching scene.

With a light blush, Casana smiled fondly and decided to humour him, touching his hand with her own. She had to admit, despite everything, it was a warm feeling to be needed like this, to be looked at as a mother. It made her realize how much she missed her own mother.

Tears pooled in her eyes and ran down her cheeks, and Jason saw this, and it made him worry. Why was his mother crying? Was she hurt? Had he hurt her by accident? Worried, he touched the forehead of his mask to hers, looking at her. She blushed a little more and smiled.

"It's okay Jason....mother loves you very much."

"Aww...well isn't this touching!"

Jason's head snapped up and turned around, standing right up. Naruto and the others turned around, and came to see Fujisaki standing near them. He smirked at them maliciously, his eyes seeming to glow.

"I never thought it would come to this, you know...but alas, I had to make some changes in my grand plans. But now, everything is going as planned."

"Who are you?! And what do you want with us?!" Naruto demanded angrily.

"Heh, just as I expected, Nine-Tails...very obnoxious, loud...ah, how amusing." Fujisaki mused. "You can call me Fujisaki, but I won't be offended if you don't remember it. Because soon, you're all going to perish. ...And you, Jason..." Fujisaki turned to the angry and confused big man. "You did well, but man, you disappointed me. Pity, isn't it?"

Jason started to stomp toward him, raising his machete, but Fujisaki held his hand out and a wave of energy flew out toward Jason, knocking him down onto the ground.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall..."

"Wait a second..." Casana said, standing up. "You were the ones who brought Jason here, weren't you?!"

Fujisaki laughed. "Well, you're quite the clever one, Miss Kusabana...just as I expected. Why yes, we did bring him back here."

"Oh let me guess, you're trying to take over the world?" Sakura snorted, placing her hands on her hips. "Come on, that's so old now. Haven't you typical villains learned your lesson yet?"

"Take over the world? My dear Rosette, that's not quite the case here." Fujisaki mocked. "I merely want to make the Great Five Shinobi Countries bend to my will! I am making them fear me, and I will take over them all."

"And you used Jason to spread the fear because you're too much of a coward to do it yourself, is that right?" Naruto hissed.

"Tut tut now, Nine-Tails, it would be best if you stilled your tongue." Fujisaki glared, and then smirked. "But yes...I had decided to enlist a little help, but alas, he just wouldn't stop." He looked down at Jason, who was getting up. He kicked him in the leg, which made him stumble a little. "He's just like a big, stupid dog..."

"Leave him alone." Casana said angrily. "You despicable piece of dirt, I cannot believe you actually used his love for his mother against him!"

"Shush now. You're not the one I want." Fujisaki pointed to Teah. "We want the Princess."

"Well you're gonna have to go through me first!" Naruto said, stepping in front of Teah protectively. "I won't let you touch her!"

"And me too." Sakura said, stepping beside Naruto. "Whatever sick game you have in mind, we'll crush them like twigs!"

"Strong words, missy." Fujisaki chuckled maliciously. "But I'm afraid there's nothing you can do."

Teah stepped forward. "I would never allow myself to be captured by the likes of you, Fujisaki. I'm not some kind of helpless damsel in distress Princess you insinuate me to be."

"Afraid not, Princess."

Before anyone could do anything, a wave of energy flew from Fujisaki and coursed through their bodies with great force and it knocked them to the ground. Casana decided to intervene, running toward Fujisaki, reaching for something behind her. He stopped and watched in amusement.

"Ohhh, I'm so scared now, the little Kusabana girl is going to do something? Well, why don't you show me your moves then?" He laughed.

Seeing her, Jason sat up and tried to tell his mother not to worry, he would take care of it. But Fujisaki sent an orb of chakra toward the masked slasher, which then sent him flying over their heads and into the expanding lake behind them, with a loud splash.

"...You bastard!!" Casana yelled, and pulled her hand out from behind her, revealing that she too had a machete. "You'll pay for that!" She yelled, storming toward him.

"Oh really?" Fujisaki laughed, and made a hand seal, and then a waterfall cloud of dark purple chakra rained down before him like a dark curtain.

Seeing this, Casana immediately froze in her tracks, looking at the curtain of dark purple chakra with surprise and great fear. Slowly, she backed away a few steps to avoid contact with it.

"Ah...so it is true then...you Kusabanas are weak against the great shadow magic...how fun...for me. Well then, I'll be off." Fujisaki disappeared in a flash and came behind Teah, grabbing her and knocking his chakra-laced fist against her head, knocking her out cold. "If you want to save the Princess, you'd best come to my fortress in the southwest! Ta-ta!"

Naruto, recovering from the blow, stood and ran off toward Fujisaki, but the mad man disappeared right on the spot. "No! NO!! Damn it!!! No! He has Teah-nee-chan!!! We have to go after him!"

"But wait...Jason hasn't resurfaced yet!" Sakura said, also getting up. "What happened??"

"Oh no... He can't swim!" Casana realized, and dropped her weapon, taking off her cloak. "I'll get him!"

"W-Wait, Casana-" Naruto began, but the brunette was already running along the dock, and dove into the water.

--

Deep under the water....in the black depths of the lake...

Jason continued to try to kick for the surface, but he was sinking, rapidly. And the lake here was deep, probably deeper than the lake back in his home. It did no good, he didn't know how to swim, and his phobic fear of the water wasn't helping. He was scared, scared to death.

Looking up toward the surface as his vision blurred, he could swore he saw someone swimming toward him in the patch of moonlight shining upon the water before his eyes closed and he lost consciousness, sinking more.

--

Finally spotting him, Casana kicked toward him grabbing onto his waist. She tried to kick toward the surface, but his massive height and size made it harder and she felt as if she were holding onto a large cinder block. Making a hurried hand seal with one hand, she gathered her chakra through her body to enhance her strength and hurriedly swam to the surface.

Finally surfacing, she gasped for air and swam to the shore, keeping hold of the masked slasher with one arm.

"There they are! Come on!" Naruto yelled, and ran into the water a couple of feet, helping Casana out.

"Is he all right?" Sakura asked, running over to them.

They lay the unconscious slasher onto the ground, he was motionless and his eyes were closed.

"I think he swallowed too much water, and his fear was getting the better of him." Casana said. "Because he drowned, he's scared of water. He needs mouth-to-mouth."

Sakura looked repulsed, inching away fast. "No way! I am not doing that! I don't even want to know what is under his mask! You said so yourself, he's practically a walking corpse!"

Feeling a little sick, Casana gulped slightly and sighed. "...All right, fine. I'll do it. He trusts me the most since he assumes I'm his mother, so I think it would result a little better. Naruto, you pump down on his chest."

"Right!" Naruto nodded, placing his hands on Jason's chest, pumping it a couple of times.

Hesitating, Casana carefully grasped the bottom of his mask, slowly sliding it upward to reveal his mouth. Her eyes widened with repulsion and she covered up her own mouth, holding back the urge to vomit. Because of his deformity, his upper lip was pulled upward and revealed his gums and teeth, which were rotted away and looked just terrible, not to mention strange. Luckily for her, he had his mouth open, with some water spilling out.

Pulling his mask up further to reveal his nose, which was kind of rotted but not as bad as his mouth, she clamped her fingers down on it and bent her head toward his mouth. She took a breath and then lowered her mouth onto his, with some difficulty, and breathed air into his dead lungs.

_Wow, she's brave._ Naruto thought, and pumped his chest again.

"I'll go again..." Casana uttered, choking a little before she went in and breathed air into his mouth again.

Jason then sat right up with such speed that it nearly knocked Casana and Naruto down, his mask falling back into place. Not quite realizing what had happened, he grabbed Casana by her neck, squeezing hard and holding his machete to her face. The brunette choked, grabbing at his arm, but it was futile, his strength was no match for her.

Raising his machete, he brought it down to finish her-

CLANG!!!!

The clash of metal was heard, and Jason looked to see that Naruto was blocking the blade from Casana's face with a kunai.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Naruto yelled angrily. "She just saved your life and this is how you thank her?! Strangling her and killing her?! Casana might be our enemy, but at least she's willing to help you and even the rest of us with this whole thing! You on the other hand are a stupid idiot who probably doesn't even know the difference between right and wrong!"

Angered, and not to mention confused, Jason shoved Casana aside onto the ground and pulled his machete back from Naruto's kunai, knocking it out of his hands.

"JASON! STOP!" Casana yelled.

Hearing her voice, Jason whirled around, facing the one he thought to be his mother. He tilted his head, wondering what she was upset about, and lowered his machete.

"Jason...you are not to harm them." Casana said firmly, taking a few steps toward him. "You have to be careful, Jason...mother will tell you what you can do, but if you disobey me, I will have to punish you. And I would never do that, my special...special boy. Please Jason, listen to mother." Her tone softened.

Realizing what he'd done, Jason lowered his head in shame and then got down onto one knee in a way to apologize. He hated disobeying his mother and making her upset, it was as if he had been stabbed in the chest and drowned. He had even hurt her, which was something he could never forgive himself for.

"Good boy, Jason...good boy. That's my boy." She cooed in a motherly way. "Now Jason, come with me, we're going on a trip together. We're going somewhere."

Looking up at her, Jason felt relieved and happy that his mother was no longer mad at him, and then tilted his head as he heard "trip" and "somewhere". Where were they going to go? Home?

"Come Jason, we're leaving now." Casana said, walking away.

Getting up, Jason returned his machete to its sheathe and followed after her. He was confused as to where his mother was taking him, but since she wanted him to follow, he did with no question. Seeing it was safe, Naruto and Sakura followed after them too.

"By the way, Naruto..." Casana said softly. "...Thanks for sticking up for me. ...I really didn't expect that. Especially from you."

Grinning, Naruto waved it off. "It was nothing! Sure you're our enemy and all, but for now, you're on our side! And hey, if it weren't for you, we never would've gotten this far. So we kinda owe you."

Sakura nodded in agreement. "It's all part of our deal, all teams look out for one another, and while you're here with us, we're looking out for you too."

Smiling, Casana nodded to them and faced straight ahead. She couldn't believe that they were actually treating her like this, despite that Naruto was the Akatsuki's main target for capture. Although she could have gone and captured him, she just couldn't. Not right now, anyway.

--

"So...his name is Jason..." Sasuke mused to himself as he hid in the shadows, his chakra shielded from detection as he watched Naruto and the others walking off. "He was the one who killed Karin..."

"Man, that guy is huge!" Suigetsu remarked. "Bigger than Juugo, I bet!"

"It seems this Fujisaki fellow is using Jason like a puppet." Sasuke said, ignoring Suigetsu's remark. His eyes narrowed. "...And all to kidnap Teah...well."

"Uh, yeah, Sasuke, this ain't got much to do with us, so what say we just get out of here, eh?" Suigetsu suggested, pointing in the opposite direction.

"You two can go." Sasuke said calmly. "I have some matters to attend to. I'll meet you back at our camp."

"Say what?! You're gonna go slave that whore cousin of yours?" Suigetsu said in disbelief. "Well gee, haven't you gone soft, Sasuke. Like I said before, I could just kill her for God's sake!"

Sasuke's eyes flashed scarlet with the Sharingan. "And I think you recall what I said before about that. Don't question my plans. Both of you, go back there, and I will return soon."

Juugo just nodded. "Right. Let's go, Suigetsu."

"Oh come ON!" Suigetsu whined, storming away behind Juugo.

--

Back in his secret fortress, Fujisaki threw Teah into a large, metal bird cage that was to be suspended several feet above the floor in the room. Her clothes had been ripped off and replaced with a tattered, white dress.

"Get comfortable, Princess. This will be your home for a while." Fujisaki mocked, closing the cage door and locking it. He handed the key to Himetsu, who then raised the cage up above toward the ceiling.

"You won't get away with this!" Teah yelled, grabbing the bars of the cage. "I can break out of this thing!" She tried to, but chakra sparked from the bars and sent her flying against the backside, painfully.

"You can try all you like, Princess. But nothing can penetrate this cage. It's sealed with chakra to prevent the captured from escaping. Pretty clever, isn't it?"

"Curse you...Fujisaki..." Teah growled.

"Indeed. Let us go, Himetsu. I'm sure the Nine-Tails and his little friends will take the bait." Fujisaki cackled as he and his right hand man exited the room.

"Damn it..." Teah cursed, bringing her arms around her raised knees. "...I hope Naruto and the others are all right..."


	11. Filling

Now Fujisaki has the Princess, and with Naruto, Sakura, Casana, along with their fairly-considered ally Jason now are on the evil man's trail to find his residing fortress and defeat him once and for all. With their clueless searching, will they find Fujisaki and truly take him down, or will they fail? And just what does he want with Teah? Find out in the upcoming chapters of this exciting story!

Liking it so far, y'all? XD I gotta say, a lot of things changed from some of my original ideas. I'll get into that later, but yeah, it was WAY different. :D I hope you all will like it.

Anyway, on with the show. Sorry about this being a bit of a filler chapter, but do bear with me, y'all. Next chapter should be much better. :D

--~~--

To take some moments to recollect themselves after traveling for a day, at a very slow pace, the group were taking shelter within the depths of a remote forest. It had been tiring since they were working to track down Fujisaki and where he'd taken Teah, with absolutely no leads at all.

On a good note, Jason was pretty much on their side, in a matter of speaking. He pretty much just followed along after them because Casana was, since he of course now thought that she was his mother. He didn't know what was going on, and found them pretty confusing a lot of the time. But they weren't committing any kind of immoral acts or anything of the sort, so he had pretty much no quarrel with them. If they had been at Camp Crystal Lake, it would have probably been a different story.

Because of his mistaking her for his mother, Casana used that to her advantage to keep Jason on a leash. She knew what he was capable of, and didn't want anything to go wrong, not right now. So with her around, he was in good hands. To keep it up, she treated him like a loving mother would treat her son. Although she held slight resentment, she had to admit that he'd grown on her. They were similar in some standards, and despite his ways of killing and Great White Shark way of thinking, he was deep down still that scared little 11-year-old boy, longing for his mother.

So now, things were going as smoothly as possible. It was just finding Fujisaki's hideout that was getting to them.

Naruto was wandering their little camp, looking for something to do while they were taking some downtime. Sakura was going to gather food in the forest, and Casana was sitting alone somewhere. He saw Jason sitting under a tree, looking over his machete in his hands, probably inspecting it. He then wiped some traces of blood off of it with his jacket and then lay it on his lap.

Jason glanced over at Naruto, studying him for a few seconds, and then looked away.

"Yeah, I'm pretty bored too." Naruto said to the slasher, who just looked back at him, tilting his head in confusion. He chuckled and then looked up to see Casana sitting on a branch in the tree. That was probably why he was sitting under that tree in the first place.

Leaping up, Naruto landed in the branch next to hers. Casana was making a flute out of a branch, using the blade of a Swiss Army knife.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked curiously, even though it was obvious.

"Killing time." Casana replied. "Pretty much."

"Yeah, no kidding." Naruto leaned against the trunk, and glanced at her. "....You feeling okay?"

"Sure." Casana said, sighing slightly. "I've been better."

"....Well, you know, for what's it worth..." Naruto couldn't believe he was saying this. "I know that Deidara guy did hurt and kidnap my friend and all, but hey, sorry about your loss. I guess he was a good friend to you, huh?"

Casana stopped carving, staring down at the ground. She sighed and nodded. "...Yeah. I wouldn't expect you to understand, but then again you didn't know him like I did. ...He was everything to me, Naruto." She then looked at him. "You remember what I said, about how Jason had no one to rely on, except for his mother because of the fact that the other kids of the camp were always making fun of him and hurting him just because he was different?"

Naruto nodded. "Oh, yeah. I know how that feels, it's no wonder I feel kind of bad for him."

"Yeah, well...Deidara was like that to me. After I lost my family and I made it to the village, I was alone, and all the children made fun of me, and all the adults feared me because of my bloodline. No one understood us, except maybe the Tsuchikage. He reached out to me, and befriended me." A light smile crossed her face. "He became my best friend, and I admired him so much, I just wanted to be near him...and seeing him happy was the best thing ever. All I wanted was to make him proud of me, to smile at me because I made him happy. He was my role model to change and become stronger."

Letting her story sink in, Naruto couldn't believe how interesting it was to hear of someone from a different perspective. You think you know someone, and then someone else speaks of them from a different perspective than yours, and you can hardly believe people actually think that, and yet they do. It was unbelievable.

He understood, though. It wasn't easy, but when you had one person you could count on, it was no wonder you felt as though they were the one who made the sun rise every morning.

"Never thought I'd hear that kind of story about him!" Naruto remarked, laughing.

Casana glanced at him and smiled sadly. "I suppose not."

Naruto shifted his position a little, looking at her. "...So, you really loved him, didn't you?"

A blush crept along the brunette's cheeks. "Yes, I loved him more than anything in the world." She looked up to the sky. "Maybe he didn't make it to Heaven...but maybe he did. It still pains me that he's gone, but, I know he would want me to be strong, and move on. I can feel him smiling down at me..." She then looked at him. "And I can see you have special feelings toward your Princess." Despite it all, she always referred to or addressed Teah as "Princess".

Blushing like mad, Naruto looked away. "S-Say what?! What do you mean!?"

Casana laughed. "Come on, Naruto. I saw it all over your faces when you looked at each other. It doesn't take a mind reader to know this kind of thing. I can tell she really loves you."

"...Well, yeah, she's told me that." He admitted, blushing at the memory.

"So, what's the problem?"

"Well...I think I love her, but I don't know." The blonde Konoha shinobi sighed. "I just feel so confused. I used to really love Sakura, and then I find out she's with Lee and now I think I have feelings for Teah-nee-chan. I'm not sure, but I might be."

"So then what's holding you back?" She cocked her head, her eyes gleaming. She was loving every moment of this.

"That's just it, I don't know." Naruto sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I-I guess I could make her happy, and I really like her as a person, and I do see myself with her, but I don't know why I'm confused."

"Is it possible that maybe someone else in the past is a part of it?" Casana guessed.

"Well...Sasuke did have feelings for her." Naruto said quietly as he mentioned the name of his best friend. "I know it's odd since they're cousins, but I never really cared about that. Still, I don't know if that's it or not. She felt the same way, and she did say she still does, but she's moving on from it all, since it's holding her back from moving on with her life."

Casana thought of that for a moment. "Sounds like those two have a lot of unfinished emotional business. They need to talk to each other."

"You're telling me!" Naruto said, clenching a fist. "I swear, I'll beat that bast-"

"Naruto." Casana warned, pointing her finger downward.

"Oh, right. I'll beat that stupid moron into submission for what he did to her." He continued. "I swear, he had it all right there, and didn't seem to care that he took her heart out and stomped on it! He doesn't deserve her, not after how he made her feel!"

He remembered that day, seeing her collapse into the worst fit of tears he'd ever seen in the middle of the dark streets of the village. How he held her in his arms and comforted her, letting her sob brokenheartedly. He never wanted to see her sad like that ever again.

"You're right about that." Casana agreed, leaning back against the tree trunk while occasionally blowing some notes through the makeshift flute she made. "Ah, yeah, he's Itachi's younger brother, and I'm guessing he's quite stubborn, yeah?"

"You got that right." Naruto said. "Stupid idiot. He's stubborn as an ax, always all up in your face about how he's soooo much better than you and how you could never understand him."

"Sounds like he doesn't quite comprehend the fact that there are people who have faced what he did, and hell, maybe even worse." She glanced at him, blowing through the flute.

"Yeah! He was pretty adamant on that. Stupid idiot...if that da-...er, well, stupid Itachi hadn't shown up that day to pretty much kidnap me, none of this would have happened. Heck, even if that bastard Orochimaru didn't bite him..." He sighed heavily.

Casana frowned lightly at the mention of the traitor's name. "Orochimaru...I should have known he was behind that. He was always looking for new recruits to take down Konoha."

Naruto glanced at her. "So you hate him too? Wow! I'm not surprised, but still, what's your beef with him?"

"It's not me personally, but I do find it despicable. ...He leaked information of the Akatsuki to the Kazekage, so he became a traitor to us." She replied.

"Say what?!" Naruto gasped. "He did that?! He was in the Akatsuki?!"

"Yep. I wasn't there while he was, Deidara just told me about it. Even I shouldn't be telling you this."

"Nah, don't worry about it." Naruto waved it off. "I won't tell anyone, and I hardly think Jason's going to even be able to use that information. But hey, all the more reason to get rid of that snake."

Casana just smiled a little. "Yeah, sure."

Naruto chuckled and lay back against the tree trunk, looking up at the stars in the sky above. "Say, were you and Deidara...well, ya know...."

"Yes, Naruto. We were."

"Wow. Never would've expected Deidara to be the romantic type."

"He wasn't. Nah, he just had his own little way of showing he cared. It didn't matter, though. I was just happy to be with him, and that he felt the same way about me as I did about him." She admitted.

"Sounds like him." Naruto glanced at her. "...I do give him credit for making you happy, though."

"He did." Casana smiled. "He really did. After all, I was the only one who could pretty much scold him for being so overconfident sometimes."

Naruto laughed. "Oh, snap."

"I know." She giggled.

--

"Comfortable, Princess?"

Teah looked up at the voice she grew to hate and glared at Fujisaki hatefully, but said nothing. She'd been trapped there for who-knows-how-long, and she was just hating it. They barely fed her, she'd given up trying to escape, and sometimes they even caused her pain for their own amusement.

"Thought so. Don't worry, your precious Nine-Tails will be here soon..."

"He has a name." Teah spat. "His name is Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."

Fujisaki just laughed mockingly. "Like I even care, Princess. After all, he's not gonna be around for long. So you can give up on ever getting out of here, lovely. But hey, if you're good, maybe I'll even make you my Queen...heheh..."

"Keep on dreaming." She glared. "Not going to happen."

"Keep telling yourself that, beautiful." He winked at her and then left.

With a sigh, Teah looked among the large throne room blanketed in shadows. Hoping with all of her heart that Naruto and the others would make it here okay. She hated being the trapped damsel in distress, it was not who she was.

_Naruto....be careful....and hurry..._

--

Munching on a tomato that he had "borrowed" from a tomato garden that he had passed, Sasuke apprehensively watched the group from his safe distance, shielding his chakra to prevent detection. He heard Naruto and the female Akatsuki member, who he later heard was named Casana, to which he recognized as the last of the Kusabana clan, and caught a few words on what they were talking about.

Especially when he himself was brought up, with the subject of his cousin, also.

He would never admit that he still had feelings for her, he could never let his weak feelings bring him down lower. But, he could never deny them. So he buried them, kept them where they couldn't be found. It wasn't easy, though. He knew now, even if he didn't want to admit it, that he could never forget her.

Now upon hearing she was kidnapped, he couldn't believe what he was about to do. Go in there and save her, get her away from the evil monsters that dared even try to mess with the Uchihas. It was more to prove that point, no matter how much he denied part of his motives.

Even if he did want to forget her, and move on, he didn't want her to die, to succumb to the power of the corrupted occult. She was too young to die, and also essential in restoring the Uchiha clan. A part of why he wanted to be kept alive.

Now he finds out her feelings toward Naruto.

He didn't know what to think of that.

On one hand, he was furious, jealous even. The Uchihas, a proud and prestigious clan mixing with the Uzumakis? Not a good idea in his book. And Naruto of all people. He couldn't believe what she saw in him. The loser of all losers, loud, obnoxious, stupid, to name a few.

On the other hand, he wasn't surprised. Naruto was always there for her, and had done nothing but treat her wonderfully. Which was good, because he would never put up with him treating her badly. He knew fully well that he could make her happy, no matter how much he wanted to deny it.

_That damn loser...._ Sasuke thought. _I'll take care of him later...._

His attention shifted to Jason, whom he could see was just sitting under the same tree Naruto and Casana were sitting in, minding his own business and fiddling with his machete. From what he observed, Casana seemed to have some kind of a control over him, which was helpful, he could see. By now he wasn't sure what to think of the huge slasher, since apparently he had some kind of a strange immortality, so trying to kill him would be useless. And if he had been able to kill Karin like he had, then it was obvious that Sasuke had underestimated his power.

_Jason...hmmm...I suppose since I can't kill him, I should do something to let him know that he should never mess with me. ...Then again, I doubt he would even know, he's actually dumber than Naruto. Surprisingly. Perhaps I'm just wasting my time. I can't kill him, and he certainly wouldn't understand me, or know of who I am...._

Sasuke kept eating his tomato, thinking of his strategy.

--

"Everything is going according to our new plan, Himetsu..." Fujisaki said aloud, watching his prey through the crystalline ball.

"It would seem so, Boss." Himetsu agreed.

"It's a shame I did not just tell him our location...but then again, I do want to have some fun with them..." The evil mastermind chuckled. "They could never break through our barrier....so I'm not worried. Even if they do come, they'll never make it, one way or another."

Yakita grinned. "You've outsmarted them, Boss!"

"I did indeed...and if they do get in...won't they be surprised." Fujisaki chuckled evilly. "Won't they be surprised..."


	12. One Step Closer

Hey guys, I just wanted to say once more that the second _Friday The 13__th_ movie did not suck. Jason's design was just pretty disappointing, that's all. But hey, it was the original style and they were playing around with him before they got the idea of how he looks now.

After all, the Hockey mask didn't come into play until the third movie, and at the time, one of the workers of the movie (I forget who), played Hockey and he brought his equipment bag with him, and he had a Hockey mask. They wanted to use that mask, but it was too small, so they made a mold of it and made a good size for it. Since then it just pretty much stuck, and became Jason's trademark.

Ronny Yu, the director of _Freddy VS Jason_, had even gone the route of making the mask the focal point of Jason, so that you would see the mask when you looked at him. I don't think that could be more true. XD And oh yeah, I did say this before, but _Freddy VS Jason_'s Jason is my favourite Jason of all. After that comes the 2009 re-make Jason.

Despite all that though, I did like Jason's clothes in the second movie. XD I love overalls. But yeah, he was just pretty much a hick carrying a machete.

Well anyway, on with the show. We're nearing the end! A few more chapters to go.

--

It was the next morning, Naruto and Sakura were raring to go, while Casana coaxed Jason into keeping calm and not bringing havoc on the two of them. It didn't take long, since he immediately relaxed and put his trust into the girl he thought to be his mother.

Since he was easy to manipulate, it never took long, especially when you dealt with his mother.

So now, they were ready to embark to Fujisaki's hideout and take him down once and for all, and save Teah. They even apted to let Jason have the final blow on him, since he was most entitled out of the the three of them to want to kill him.

Little did they know of what they were going to face next...

"Okay, we're ready!" Naruto said, and turned to the brunette.

"Just a moment. I have a little something that will help us find the location of Fujisaki's hideout." Casana said, her cobalt eyes gleaming.

"Really?" Sakura said in surprise, turning to her. "How are you going to do that?"

As if to answer, a beautiful turtledove dove came flying to them, and landed onto Casana's perched finger. It cooed softly, before it spoke to her. It was probably a summoning of hers, since she was known for being a nature and animal lover.

"Well, I found his fortress, Mistress." The turtledove said, pointing straight ahead with her wing. "Beyond this forest, there is a valley to cross, and there is a dense forest known as the Forest of Darkness. In the heart of this forest, is his fortress. But be careful, because a barrier surrounds the forest. The Princess is alive, rest assured."

"So we're pretty close!" Naruto cajoled. "Awesome! Any idea how long it will take to get there?"

"To walk, it would take a day." The turtledove replied. "Best of luck, Mistress." She then disappeared into a puff of smoke.

Casana sighed in relief, turning to the two of them. "Well, now that we know we're on the right track, shall we get going?"

"You bet! I'm ready to go there and tear Fujisaki apart for what he's done, and not to mention kidnapping Teah-nee-chan!" Naruto declared. "I want to see him dead!"

"Me too." Sakura agreed. "I'm not going to hold back, I want to be there with all of you and make things right."

"And I will get my revenge, also." Casana said, and then turned to the slasher, who was standing by a tree. "Jason! Let's go. We're ready now."

Cracking his head into place with sickening cracks and turns, Jason gave a slow nod to tell her that he was ready too, and went over to the group.

"Since some of us don't have the abilities we have, we'll have to do it the hard way and walk." Casana said disdainfully. "I suppose we need the exercise, anyway."

"Won't be so bad, right? Remember Sakura, we had to pretty much walk all the way to the Land of the Waves before taking the boat!" Naruto said.

"True. I suppose we can survive a day of walking." Sakura shrugged.

"Then let's go, we can definitely cover some ground before nightfall. Besides, we're not far from the end of the forest. I scouted around earlier this morning to see where we were at." Casana explained.

"Awesome, then let's go!"

The four of them then headed toward the end of the forest, ready and set with their destination practically laid out before them. It would be a tough road ahead, but they were not going to hold back. Naruto was determined to save Teah, to take down the evil bastard who was the true mastermind behind this whole scheme. Although Fujisaki wasn't exactly to be held accountable for Jason's killing, he did plant the seed. Sakura, although she didn't have any specific reason more than to help Naruto and to save someone she grew to think of as a friend, she wanted to be there to help and to provide assistance, and be supportive all the same. Not to mention in part of her growing strong and putting things to the best of her abilities.

Casana's reason for this still remained a bit of a mystery to Naruto. She had at first preyed on Jason because of him killing the man she loved, but when she got the inside information and truly found out what was going on, she was still willing to stick by them and help bring down Fujisaki anyway. Other than getting revenge, it was odd that she would have any other reason.

But in a way, Naruto could see right through her. She wasn't as horrible a villain as she was made out to be. If she was, she would likely have done something to him a long time ago and then taken him back to the Akatsuki hideout, so it was likely his status had nothing to do with it. Teah had helped her those few years ago in the past, and maybe somehow she wanted to pay her back?

It was confusing, and Naruto pondered whether or not it would be right to ask. She was their enemy, even if she was their ally for now. It was also hard to say what Jason was. He was technically an "antagonist", since he killed innocent people he found to be "not so innocent". But then again, he wasn't exactly an evil mastermind out to kill all humanity and take over the world, he just had his own agenda and was killing for his and his mother's own benefits, and to protect his home. He didn't know anything else, he didn't know any better. He was used to it, pretty much his mindset and own accord. In a matter of speaking he was evil, but on a whole different level. Almost like a few steps toward a Great-White Shark.

Naruto found him strange, despicable, and yet at the same time, he felt bad for him because he had a pretty tough time as a child, much like himself. He was easy to relate to in that sense. The killing thing was a bit extreme, but, in a way you could understand why. People were trespassing in a place he called his home, and often committed immoral acts, which would lead to being punished in the only way he knew how. A way to say that being "naughty" in that kind of way would only lead to punishment.

It was strange.

--

_So, that's where his hideout is. This could be interesting._ Sasuke thought, keeping his distance as he trailed near the group, deeper in the forest where he couldn't be seen.

His inner conflicts had not gotten any better since the night before, but he chose to ignore them for the time being and focus on the matter at hand. After all, this was going to be big, really big. He could tell that much. Sasuke did however not have much beef with Fujisaki, except for him having planted the seed of the threat, which lead to Karin getting killed and breaking his team apart. Though a strong Shinobi would press on, even after the loss of a comerade, Sasuke did want to make this person pay. Especially for messing with the Uchihas by kidnapping Teah like she was a weak little damsel in distress. He'd caught her off-guard and made off with her like it was nothing.

He was not going to let him get away with that, either.

--

"So, there's no sign of them?"

"No, Kazekage-sama." Baki shook his head. "It seems they left and hadn't left any sign of their departure."

"I see." Gaara said calmly, and nodded. "Very well. You're dismissed."

Baki bowed to him before exiting his office. _I do hope Kazekage-sama finds an answer to this whole thing, for the good of our village. _

Deciding to get some paperwork done, Gaara glanced out the window and a small, knowing smile crossed his features before he looked back at the papers strewn about his desk in an orderly fashion.

_Naruto, if I know you, I bet you're out there trying to find some answers to this whole thing. Good luck, I know you can do it._

--

"So, no idea where they are?" Tsunade said, raising a blonde eyebrow.

"I'm afraid so, Tsunade-sama." The ANBU member, Yue, sighed heavily. "The Nine-I mean, Naruto Uzumaki and the Princess are nowhere to be found. It is said they departed from the Sand Village and have not been seen since."

_I should've known he'd take matters into his own hands._ Tsunade thought, holding her forehead in her palm. This whole case was getting to be more and more frustrating by the second. They were dealing with a nameless killer whom they didn't know of his whereabouts or even origin, and now Naruto, Teah and Sakura were nowhere to be found.

"Tsunade-sama! Tsunade-sama! Urgent news!" The ANBU captain came running in, holding a piece of paper in his hand. "It is...it is terrible! Unexpected, horrible! I cannot say-"

"Will you just get to the point!?" Tsunade demanded, impatient.

"I'm sorry!" The captain bowed and handed her the paper. "The Princess has been kidnapped!"

"WHAT?!" Tsunade exploded, abuptly jumping from her desk, grabbing the paper and reading it over. "...It's...it's impossible! It can't be!"

The message written on the paper read:

_To the Hokage of Konoha, Tsunade,_

_We have the Princess, Orivia Uchiha of the Northern Mountain region north of the Fire Country. Pass this message to other Kage of their respective villages, let them know they are powerless to stop me. _

_You have seen the damage done we have caused? Though not by us personally, of course. I am sure you're up in arms about the killings that have occurred around in your village, no?_

_Don't believe me? We do have the little Princess. An enclosed photo should be enough evidence._

_Want her back? Well, perhaps. Surrender, and we will set her free. If the great Konoha surrenders, there is no chance the other villages will stand up. Might I also mention that brat, the Nine-Tails, are after me? Ha, pitiful. They will not make it past my guards, even. It is quite pitiful, isn't it?_

_The choice is yours, Hokage. You can surrender, or the Princess dies. Think it over. You have three days to respond._

Sure enough, paper-cliped to the back of the message was a photograph of Teah in a large, metal bird cage, dressed in the ragged dress, looking tired, weak, and very helpless. Completely unlike her. But there was no mistaking that it was her. The necklace, and her violet eyes were the dead giveaway.

".........." Tsunade was absolutely speechless. She couldn't believe it. Just couldn't believe it.

"What can we do, Tsunade-sama?" Asked the panicked Captain. "If we surrender, then it will be admitting defeat! But if we do not, the Princess will die...and she is the last of her Royal family!"

"......We're not going to surrender." Tsunade said. "We are going to take them by surprise. Captain, you are going to gather your best men, and any jounin available, and you are going to track down this message and take down the sender. We will not let him get away with this, and we are not going to surrender."

"Right away, Tsunade-sama!" Yue and the Captain chorused together before they bowed in respect and then left.

Slumping into her chair, Tsunade stared at the photograph with great disdain and defeat, unable to fathom that this happened to her. She felt responsible, since she let Teah go on that mission, just let her. Despite that some sick people out there are always out to kidnap royalty, it didn't seem like it would happen at a time like this, and yet...you just can't trust that fact sometimes.

Tsunade sighed heavily, shaking her head. "I never should have let her go."

None the less, she was confident that she would be saved, and this whole situation would be brought to justice.

And maybe even answer questions relating to the mysterious killer they were dealing with.

--

A day passed, and hidden within the shadows of the throne room of the fortress where Fujisaki and his minions lurked, Fujisaki sat upon his throne, with the crystalline ball floating before him. He could see Naruto and the others very close on their trail.

"So they found it after all..." Fujisaki chuckled to himself. "Well...this should be interesting... Well then, Himetsu, Yukita, Mokira, Karashi, Koroshi, all of you, get to your posts immediately."

"Right, Boss. Let's go, men." Himetsu said, and they all disappeared into thin air.

--

By nightfall, the fortress in which they were directed to, where Fujisaki lurked, came into view beyond some trees. The turtledove from Casana's summoning wasn't kidding, there was a visible, round barrier surrounding the fortress in a very eerie blue and golden light. The fortress itself was huge, dark, with quite a few towers. It was very old, too, probably abandoned before Fujisaki took over.

"Well gang, this is it." Casana said, pointing toward it. "That's the fortress."

"Wow, it's huge!" Naruto gasped. "And that barrier...whoa."

"At least we made it." Sakura said, nodding toward it. "Let's go."

They all nodded in unison, save for Jason, who continued lagging behind them as he followed, and wondered where they were and what they were talking about. The barrier surrounding the fortress was amazing and confusing to him, since he didn't even know what it was, or why it was there.

It was obvious that his mother needed to be here, so he followed along without question, despite that he had no idea why they were here and what they were doing.

Now they were one step closer to bringing down Fujisaki once and for all.

"Hold it right there!"

That was when they noticed the guards stationed out front for the first time. There were the five subordinates of Fujisaki, along with a couple of dozen armed guards clad in old time Ninja wear, with masks only showing their eyes. It was four against a couple dozen plus five more, it seemed like a tough battle.

But Naruto was confident. He knew they could take them all down with their combined efforts.

"You're not getting past here." Yakita said. "In the name of Fujisaki!"

Casana just smiled. She looked at Jason, and then spoke a few simple words in her kindest, sweetest tone. "Jason, kill them."

Naruto and Sakura stood back, and Jason swiftly stepped into action from the best order he could hear from his mother. In an instant, Yakita gasped as Jason's machete was now thrust through his head between his eyebrows. He grabbed his machete back and kicked him to the ground. The masked ninjas all lunged in, waving their katanas and samurai swords, Jason grabbed one of them by the next and knocked him against one of his comrades, twisting his neck and letting him go.

"Let's go, Naruto!" Sakura said.

"Right!" Naruto agreed.

"Go for it." Casana's eyes beamed as a smirk crossed her face.

The enemy ninjas scattered around, going for the other three shinobi, thinking it would be easy since they were all just kids, save for Casana. Two went at Sakura, who punched at one with her chakra-laced fist, and then thrust a kunai into the neck of the other from behind. Another came at her from behind, but she leaped out of the way, landing on his back and grabbing his neck, twisting it successfully. She then charged at two more, jumping up and placing one foot on each of their heads, pushing them against each other and then leaping out of range, tossing kunai and shuriken into their backs.

Naruto summoned the power of the Rasengan, thrusting the swirling blue orb toward one of the charging ninjas, which in turn knocked him back and falling against two more who were coming up behind him. Jason saw this and finished them off by grabbing a fallen katana and stabbing all three of them as if they were all meat on a rotisserie. Naruto waved in thanks and then leaped up out of the way of an oncoming ninja and kicked him in the face, before landing back down and punching the living daylights out of him.

Although feeling powerless at the rapid drop of their men, a few more rushed at Casana, since she was an Akatsuki member after all. But before they could reach her, a horde of vines shot up from the ground, restraining the ninjas as they were lifted into the air. But she wasn't through, since the vines all then lit on fire, causing them all to yell and scream in fear, and they called themselves ninjas. She finished the job by having the vines squeeze and strangle them before dropping their burnt corpses onto the ground.

--

Huddled in the cage, Teah sat with her knees raised and her arms wrapped around her legs, feeling almost as vulnerable as she had been when she was a child. She mentally cursed herself for allowing to be captured, and then trapped like an insect in a cage. She felt like a damsel in distress, like a typical Princess who could do nothing in fighting back when faced against evil.

_No, no! I can't think like that! That's exactly what he wants me to do, think lowly of myself and grow weaker and weaker, more off guard. No, I won't do that. I can't let him take over me like this!_

"Maybe you should've been more on guard. I never took you to let yourself get captured like a typical video game Princess."

Teah's eyes shot open, and she looked to see Sasuke standing there in the cage with her. How he had got in, she had no idea. It had to be some kind of a jutsu, since nothing could get in or out of this cage. It was big enough for four people, but it was a bit cramped with the two of them.

"S-Sasuke...!" She gasped.

Casually leaning against the cage, causing it to sway slightly, Sasuke crossed his arms and looked down at her. "Seriously Teah, look at you, you're cowering like a dog with its tail between their legs. You were always stronger than this."

"But...I can't get out of this cage. I've tried for hours, but it keeps resisting." Teah protested. "...And for that matter, what the hell are you doing here? How did you find me?!"

"Let's just say I know these things, Teah." Sasuke said calmly, not phased by her question.

"You...have you been following us?!" Her tone was containing an edge.

"Is that any way to greet your cousin after three years?"

"Greet?! Ha! You leave me with a broken heart and no consideration for my or anyone else's feelings when you went to Orochimaru for extra power, try to sever all bonds, and then attempt to kill Naruto when you last saw him, and you expect me to greet you in a family reunion-oriented manner?! Well excuse me, _cousin_, but I'm afraid you're not going to get any smiles from me." Teah exploded, managing to stand up. "I don't know who you are to think that I would be happy right now."

Sasuke chuckled. "You were always feisty, but you do make a valid point. Perhaps I was expecting a little too much, especially from you. But I suppose there is no reason I can't come say hello."

"You can't possibly." Teah spat, rising to her full height. Despite that, he didn't seem the least bit intimidated. "You have other reasons for being here, Sasuke. I know you. You wouldn't just come here to say hello, not like this."

"Mm....I shouldn't have expected any less from you. You don't miss a thing, and I can see you're really not that dense. Not like a certain someone."

Teah's eyes widened, and narrowed. "Leave Naruto out of this."

"Fine by me." Sasuke slowly approached her, and reached up, touching her cheek. "You know, I don't think I've made this known, but I must admit that I do miss you. You are really the only worthy thing in my life."

Teah recoiled from him, but it was hard to move with the limited space. "Get away from me, don't touch me."

Ignoring her, he took hold of her hands, holding them up against the bars of the cage, leaning his face up toward hers, their noses touching. "Deny me all you like, Teah, but I know you want this as much as I do." He pressed his body to hers, causing a light gasp to escape from her.

"N-No...Sasuke, no..." Teah uttered, trying to move away, but it was futile. "Please, no. Please, I-"

Sasuke cut her off, kissing her full on her lips. Her cheeks turned red, she tried to move, but he held her tightly, not letting her go. Resistance was futile. She kept her lips firmly shut, but he traced her lips with his tongue and lightly nibbled on her lower lip, which caused her to gasp in surprise, and he slipped his tongue in and explored her mouth. Teah tried not to give in, but it was getting harder and harder not to, what with all her feelings toward him resurfacing and her hormones raging with their current position.

He then slowly released her wrists, and pressed closer to prevent escape, and to entice her more, to make her respond. He stroked her sides, sensually through the tattered white dress. Teah couldn't hold back anymore and fisted her fingers into his hair, kissing back. She hated herself for it, but it was overpowering her.

_I can't do this...! I love Naruto, I-I just can't! I love Sasuke too, still, but...Naruto..._

Pulling back, Sasuke smirked at her, holding her in place. "I knew it...there's someone else, isn't there?"

"....I...." Teah uttered. "...Yes."

"It's Naruto, isn't it." It was more of a statement than a question.

Teah looked away. "....Yes. It is. ...Sasuke, you have to understand. You've been gone, I couldn't remain abstinent forever. ...I had to move on, to live the life I want and not spend hours wallowing in despair or over your departure."

"....Well then..."

Sasuke's smirked increased, and he ran one hand lower, up her dress, stroking along her thigh, and then up higher along her inner thigh, then at her sacred spot, her womanhood. Stroking his hand, he smirked more at her reaction as she bit back a moan, closing her eyes.

"I know you want me Teah, I can feel it right here in the palm of my hand." Sasuke whispered in a low tone, massing her opening and poking her inner walls for added stimulation.

"S-Sasuke...n-no...!" Teah moaned, arching her neck. "Please...no! I...I can't..."

"You can, and you will. You are an Uchiha, you are of a proud clan Teah, now submit, and you will be mine..."

"No... N-Naruto...!"

--

Himetsu stared, dumbfounded at the Princess as she was _fingering_ herself in her sleep.


	13. The Final Countdown

Some of the scenes, and battle portrayed here were inspired by cut scenes in one of my fave video games; _The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess_. :D I have been waiting FOREVER to write them.

Oh, and an extra big cookie will go to the person who can guess the quote said from a deleted scene of _Freddy VS Jason_. I'll give you a hint, it was Freddy who said it during a moment in the battle in the cabin. If you have the DVD, you likely saw the scene.

The hanging bit came from the original final version of the movie's script, that wasn't done in the final version of the movie.

We're nearing the end, people. Not much left to go. But I won't get into that now. There's still more to come! So fear not. Here we go!

--

With the dead bodies strewn about, the only obstacle now was getting through the barrier surrounding the fortress. It was impenetrable, that much was obvious. Its gold and blue subtle pulsating glows illuminated it ominously as it and the fortress itself towered over them. Leading to the main entrance were surrounded by two outer walls on either side of the walkway.

"Jeez, now how are we gonna get past this barrier?" Naruto groaned, frustrated.

"It seems to be a very strange kind of chakra...I've never seen it before." Sakura remarked, touching it with her hand. They could touch it, but it was like touching a stone wall.

Banging her fist against it, which caused black marks to appear where she hit it, Casana silently pondered what they could do about the barrier and how they could break it down. Breaking it was going to be no easy task.

Seeing her struggling, Jason followed suit and kicked it, punched it, and even used his machete to stab it, with no success. Hell, he was starting to get frustrated since he didn't know what to do. It made him feel ashamed that he was useless to his mother then.

".....Sakura, Naruto, I think I might know how we can break the barrier." Casana suddenly said. "Sakura, gather as much strength and chakra into your fist and punch it as hard as you can."

Not sure what good it would do, Sakura decided to try anyway. "Okay, hold on a second."

The rosette concentrated, and chakra laced her fist within a few seconds, and she threw back her fist, punching the barrier as hard as she could, all of her strength and chakra going into it. Sure enough, it cracked a few octaves bigger than her fist and her hand went right through it. She pulled her hand out, but seconds after she did, the hole closed back up!

"...Well, that failed." Sakura sighed, rubbing her hand.

"What are we going to do now?" Naruto groaned.

Casana smiled. "It's simple, I see the solution. We have to simply counterbalance the surrounding chakra compound by neutralizing its effect by striking it with a much more impacting weight chakra attack."

Sakura nodded, but Naruto just stared in confusion, as did Jason, who was barely even paying attention, but was listening when his mother spoke. In response, he tilted his head, and Naruto just scratched his hair.

With a sigh, Casana translated. "In other words, we're going to have to strike with a much more powerful chakra, and it has to be big."

"Okay...so then who's gonna do it?" Naruto wanted to know.

"The logical solution would be for Naruto to do it, since he has more chakra than Sakura and I combined, but, Naruto, I wouldn't do that if I were you. Ironically, it withstands against the chakra power of a demon." Casana tapped it with her knuckle. "So, I'll do it. My bloodline can handle that much power just about no problem. But since it has to be big, we're going to need some more juice. Stand back, you guys. This is going to get messy."

Naruto and Sakura nodded and backed away a few feet. Jason noticed this and followed them suit, wondering what his mother was going to do next.

"Here goes." Casana took her own machete out and placed it between her teeth. She made a few hand seals, drew out a scroll from her pack, and waved it across the ground before planting her palm against it.

An eruption of smoke surrounded her, but the force of energy lifted her up and sent her flying over the right outer wall, disappearing on the other side. Jason, worried about her, was about to run toward it, but Naruto held his arm out to stop him, keeping his eye on the outer wall.

Suddenly, there was a rumbling noise, and to their surprise, a giant hand came up over the wall and grasped it, when the rest of the body came up with it. It was Casana, who was now a giant about 100 feet tall, along with the machete between her teeth having more than tripled in size. She perched a leg onto the outer wall and looked toward the barrier before leaping up onto it. She nearly slipped, but climbed up onto the very top.

Casana stood up, and turned around to face the others, who were all staring up at her with great shock. She took the machete from between her teeth and held it up with both hands above her head, surrounding it with chakra, and something else also. She then stabbed the barrier with it, holding it in place. The barrier cracked, and then a blinding glow of light emitted from the barrier as it cracked, and then surrounded it in great light as Casana shrank down in size and fell from the top.

--

"Hey, she's coming around!"

"Casana-san... Casana-san, wake up."

Feeling drops of cool moisture hitting her face, Casana slowly opened her eyes. She looked up to see Naruto and Sakura standing over her, and then to see that Jason was carrying her bridal style. He had seen her falling and ran to catch her. Now it was raining.

"You broke the barrier, look!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing.

Casana followed their gazes and looked up toward the fortress. Sure enough, the barrier was gone, and the fortress stood above them, as if daring them to enter.

--

"So...it would seem that they've broken through the barrier." Fujisaki couldn't help but laugh as he saw the scene on his crystalline ball. "This is rich, quite rich!"

"What shall we do, Boss? They have killed all of our reinforcements." Himetsu said in a hesitant tone. "I can see they're going to make it in here."

"Hush, Himetsu, let them come, just as planned." Fujisaki said calmly, and looked up toward the cage, where Teah was peering down at them, listening intently. "It's foolish, and so amusing...that they think they can come in here and save their little Princess. Pathetic, really."

"You won't get away with this!" Teah yelled from above them. "Naruto and the others will save me, and they will defeat you!"

"Dream of it all you like, Princess." Fujisaki mocked, and sat back on his throne, waiting for them to arrive. "Set the trap, Himetsu."

--

Going through the dark corridor of the inside, they walked along a red carpet that led into another room up ahead. Judging by the chakra of Teah and her own demon, along with Fujisaki, it was obvious they were in there. But just to make sure, Casana activated her bloodline limit, the Nentougan, to read the brain waves coming from inside.

"Yes, they're in there all right." Casana said. "And they're expecting us...and have a little trap on their hands in store. Let's go, guys. We'll take him down once and for all."

"Right!" Naruto agreed. "We're all in this together."

"Together to the end." Sakura nodded and smiled in triumph. "We'll stop him."

The four of them marched on ahead, and came into the room. It was huge, big enough to fit a small village inside, with high ceilings, pillars, high windows. The majority of the room was shrouded in shadows, but enough light was lit among the floor, and the throne.

Up above, Naruto caught sight of the cage, with Teah inside of it. She saw him too, and smiled big in relief to see that he and the rest were all safe. But not for long.

"T-Teah-nee-chan!" Naruto exclaimed with happiness and nearly ran forward, but Casana held out an arm to stop him, her focus straight ahead. That was when he saw what he hadn't seen a moment ago.

"Welcome to the fortress, foolish kids..."

Fujisaki was sitting upon his throne, smirking at them maliciously before he slowly stood up, with a long sword in a scabbard in hand. He stared down at them as if they were mere flies that needed to be swatted away.

"Fujisaki..." Casana spat out with hate, glaring at him. "...We meet again."

"Heh heh...so you all made it after all..." Fujisaki said, bemused. "You people have all amused me, since this whole thing began. You, and that retarded little slime."

"Hey, at least Jason's pretty much innocent in this!" Naruto shouted at him. "Sure he killed a few people, but he was dragged into this without even really knowing it to do your own handy work, coward! He's not some errand boy, you know! Maybe he's a bit screwed up in the head and has his morals a little looped, but he's still a human being like the rest of us, damn it!"

"You took advantage of his mental disability. And for that, you are an absolute despicable monster. Jason never should have come here in the first place, this is not where he belongs."

"You have pretty words, Miss Kusabana. But is that all they are? Pretty words?" Fujisaki mocked.

Casana's hateful glare didn't cease, her grip on the handle of the blood-dripping machete tightened.

"Do you even understand...what it means to live your life...with only one person you can count on? Everyone around you, always outcasting you because of something about you they don't understand...something about you they fear. But you don't need anyone else, because the one person who sees you as the person you are inside, is always there for you, and always makes you feel so much better. Do you know what it means, Fujisaki? This is why....this why I understand him."

"Heh heh, YOU, of all people?" The evil man laughed.

"I know what it's like, Fujisaki! I know how it feels to live under someone who saves you from the real world, someone who cares about you...and that making them proud and happy is your goal in life, being with them for all time. Seeing them proud of you...is worth more than all the money in the world. Being with them, only makes you feel happier, stronger. Nothing else matters, as long as you have each other. You love them so much, you do everything to make them happy, and it seems like nothing. Making them happy is the easiest thing ever, because they don't expect a lot from you. They just love you for who you are, enjoy the pleasure of your company, and are proud of you always. They love you unconditionally, without asking for a thing in return. You admire them, look up to them, you think they get up half an hour early in the morning and make the sun rise..."

"Hahaha!!! As if I care!" Fujisaki laughed. "You speak so strongly, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to burst your pretty bubbles." He looked up toward the cage, and slowly brought it down to the ground, opening the door with his chakra. "I will do you one better. Deny me if you will, you and your little friends..."

Seeing this, Naruto let out a cry and ran to the cage, standing protectively in front of Teah. "Don't you touch her!"

Scoffing, Fujisaki dematerialized his body into waves of dark-looking chakra, which in turn floated into the air and sailed right past him, into the cage. Teah cried out as the chakra surrounded her and entered inside of her, disappearing. She trembled and slumped over, her long black hair hiding her face.

"Oh! Teah-nee-chan!" Naruto cried, realizing what had happened. He ran into the cage, checking her over. "Teah-nee-chan...a-are you all right? What did he do to you??" He touched a hand to her cheek, seeing that her eyes were closed. "Please wake up, Teah-nee-chan! I love you so much, please, please wake up!"

Suddenly, Teah's eyes popped open, but they were bright green, instead of violet, and a strange force knocked into Naruto and sent him flying out of the cage and skidding across the ground. Sakura and Casana rushed to him, helping him up.

"Naruto, Naruto what happened?! Sakura asked in fright.

Casana felt a hand touch her shoulder, and she turned around to Jason, who pointed toward the cage. Teah was walking toward them, a sick grin on her face, and her eyes were bright green, like Fujisaki's.

"Foolish shinobi, you could never exceed my power!" Teah said, but it sounded like another voice was talking along with hers, which was Fujisaki's. His sword flew into her hand, and she rose into the air, hovering above them. "With my power and hers combined, I am unstoppable! Though I cannot control the Nine-Tails, this will have to do..."

"Princess!" Casana cried in shock.

"You demon!" Naruto growled, his eyes turning red. "You get the hell out of her right now! She's not some kind of a puppet!"

"Think what you like, Nine-Tails!" Fujisaki cackled, raising his sword above his head. "But you my friends are exempt, for now. HE is the one I want!"

A force of energy shot Naruto, Sakura and Casana in the gut, which knocked them backwards along the floor, but before either of them could move, a barrier sprung up, closing them off. The barrier was large, and encircled around Fujisaki inside of Teah's body, and Jason.

"Jason!" Casana cried in fright. "Oh no! There's no way he could stand up to a flying maniac!" She tried to rush forward, but the barrier knocked her back.

"Good try, foolish girl!" Fujisaki laughed, and turned his attention to Jason. "You stupid piece of crap...I cannot believe you failed me. You could've killed them, but instead you fall victim to that wretched woman you believe to be your wench of a mother! I cannot believe it, I've never seen such stupidity! Look at you, you're an absolute mess. You're slow, you're stupid, and you have no style. You have a face that only a MOTHER could love!"

Jason had just about had enough. He didn't understand most of the words that this woman was saying, but when his mother was mentioned, and quite badly, he was getting angrier by the minute. He wanted nothing more than to kill her. But he was confused as to how she was flying. As far as he knew, humans couldn't fly, which therefore made it impossible for him to reach.

Fujisaki flew around, taunting Jason as he cackled. He then raised his sword above his head, and sent an orb of electric chakra flying toward him. Jason's eyes widened at this and the orb surrounded him in electricity.

"What are we going to do!?" Naruto cried in anger and panic. "If he hits Fujisaki, he'll be hurting Teah-nee-chan's body! And I think he wants to kill her!"

"What if he turned his attacks against him?" Sakura suggested. "It would hurt her body, but at least he would be weakened and we could get him off guard and out of her body!"

"Wait..that's it!" Casana said, and turned back to the makeshift arena. "Jason! Hit the ball when it comes flying to you! Hit the ball!"

Jason, having recovered, glanced at his mother in confusion as he tried to make sense of what she was telling him. Hit the ball? What ball?

"Over here, Jason!" Fujisaki cackled, sending another orb of electric chakra toward him.

On instinct, Jason kept his eye on the ball, grasping his machete with both hands like a baseball bat, and smacked the blade against the orb, sending it flying toward Fujisaki. His camp days of playing baseball had definitely paid off. Having expected it somehow, Fujisaki hit the ball back, sending it propelling back toward Jason, who in turn swung his makeshift baseball bat and sent it back at the enemy.

Seeing it come even faster, Fujisaki didn't even have time to hit back as the orb engulfed him, sending painful jolts of electricity through him. Once recovered, he furiously flew around, and then landed on the ground.

"Hey Jason, come and get me, over here!" He yelled.

Seeing him on he ground level at last, Jason stomped toward him, completely oblivious to what he was really walking into. Fujisaki taunted him, and even danced in Teah's body, making her look very inticing to annoy him. It worked, since he stomped even faster toward him, raising his machete.

Fujisaki jumped aside and Jason stepped right into the trap, a thick rope wrapped around his ankles and strung him RIGHT up, where he hung several feet above the floor upside down. One of the oldest tricks in the book, and just as he expected, Jason walked right into it with absolutely no idea.

"HA! I should have known you were that stupid! Look everyone, a retarded pinata!" He mocked.

Dropping his machete to the ground, Fujisaki picked it up and then tossed it aside, not really caring where it ended up. It flew through the air and then landed on the ground, sliding to Casana's feet.

With him distracted a the barrier disappearing, Naruto then got an idea.

"Hey, Casana-san, throw it to him!" He said, pointing at it.

Casana smirked. "Okay, I'll do that." She picked it up and took a few steps forward. "Hey! Fujisaki!"

Turning around, Fujisaki faced her just in time to see her throw Jason's machete at him. It swished through the air in circles, went over Fujisaki's head and struck Jason in the leg.

"Ha! You missed, you stupid bitch!" Fujisaki cackled. "What are you going to do now?"

Her smirk didn't cease, which obviously meant she knew something he didn't. "Think again, Fujisaki. I wasn't aiming for you."

"What?!" The evil man possessing Teah cried, turning around toward the hanging slasher.

As expected, Jason removed the machete from his leg, and then used it to cut the rope that was binding his ankles. He then gracelessly fell to the floor, stunned for a moment before he slowly stood up, rubbing his head.

"No! NO!" Fujisaki yelled, leaping away and then hovering into the air again to avoid Jason. "You damn bitch!"

Fujisaki then sent another orb flying toward Jason, this time, with much more power within it.

With the "ball" coming, Jason once again struck it with his machete and sent it flying back at Fujisaki, which hit him before he could react, and he was this time falling to the ground, yelling out in Teah's feminine screams.

The barrier dissipated, much to everyone's relief. Jason started to go toward the fallen body that was Teah possessed by Fujisaki, but Casana stopped him, saying in a low voice that he was not to touch her.

"Do it, Naruto! Use the power of the Nine-Tails to extract Fujisaki from the Princess!" Casana yelled. "Hurry, while he's still weak!"

"Oh, right, okay!" Naruto said, and as if the Nine-Tails heard this, the glowing red chakra arose from within him, surrounding him in the shape of a fox.

Fujisaki tried to shakily stand, his own power ruining him, and the Long-Tail also working to get him out of there, but since Teah's body was weak, it was easier to for him to try to fight back.

The large form of the Nine-Tailed fox, encased of its chakra, then lunged his arms forward, as if stretching them out to a great length, grabbed Teah's body and shoved her up against the throne. A bright light emmitted from his enclosed hands, and dark chakra arose, with Fujisaki screaming in pain. The paws/hands then released Teah, gently sitting her onto the throne.

Sakura grasped Naruto's hand in order to calm him, and the red chakra dissipated, and Naruto's eyes became their normal blue colour. It was as if nothing had happened.

"Oh! Teah-nee-chan!"

Naruto hurried to her with the other three in tow. Teah was sitting on the throne, her eyes closed as she appeared to be asleep. He looked to the girls questioningly, and Casana motioned for him to stand back but rest assured. That was when the silvery chakra of the long-tail surrounded Teah, healing her wounds and restoring her energy, purifying her from having been possessed by the dark entity that was Fujisaki.

Opening her eyes, Teah looked among them, and smiled a little.

"Hey...you guys made it okay."

"Teah-nee-chan...! You're...you're okay!" Naruto cried happily, relieved at this.

"Well of course I am. I was more worried about you guys." Teah stood from the throne. "So...what happened to Fujisaki?"

"I don't kn-" Sakura began, when suddenly there was a rushing sound coming from behind them.

They all whipped around, seeing the dark chakra and power of Fujisaki as he was reforming himself, he was surrounded by a purple fire-like chakra which glowed burgundy.

"You didn't think you had me that easily, did you?!" He cackled.

"Oh no!" Sakura cried. "He's still alive!"

"What are we going to do!?" Naruto said, backing away to protect the girls.

That was when Casana stepped up ahead of them, drawing her weapon from its sheathe behind her back.

"I will take him on. Alone. You guys get out of here." She said.

"What?! Are you crazy!?" Naruto cried.

Casana shook her head. "I'm serious, Naruto. ...You've all done so much, and I don't deserve to be among you. Get the Princess out of here, and above all, get Jason back home, where he belongs." She turned to the said slasher and smiled sadly. "...Goodbye, my special, special boy."

Goodbye? What did she mean goodbye? Where was she going? No! She couldn't leave, not now! Jason realized what was happening and tried to run at her, reaching out to her, but before he could even touch her, his body dematerialized into vines, as did Naruto, Sakura, and Teah, all rising up toward the ceiling and disappearing.

Smiling serenely, Casana watched as the vines above disappeared. _If I do die here...at least I will have helped them save the Princess...and at least I will join you, Deidara._

Turning her attention to Fujisaki, her smile became a hateful glare, and her eyes flashed pink with the Nentougan.

"Hahahaha....come and get me then, Kusabana!"

"This is the end, Fujisaki!"

Not wasting a moment, she ran in and leaped toward him, to which he cackled in mocking, raising his sword to block the blow from her weapon.


	14. Final Friday

Once more, some of the scenes were inspired by _The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess_. :D I totally had to, guys. I just did. X3

Well anyway, enjoy the show, y'all. And sorry if the last battle is so short.

--

Out in the middle of the field beyond the Forest of Darkness, located on a hill where they could see the fortress above some trees. Vines appeared and materialized into human forms. Naruto, Sakura, Teah and Jason appeared there, now confused and wondering what had happened.

"Did she make it...?" Naruto questioned softly.

"I don't know..." Teah murmured.

"I can't believe she did that...sacrificing herself to save all of us. Even after all she did to help." Sakura murmured.

There was a rumbling, and they all shot their gazes toward the fortress, which then suddenly exploded, heaps of smoke rising from it. By the looks of it, no one could have survived that if they were inside it. The four of them stared in absolute shock and surprise, wondering if maybe, somehow she did make it.

Up ahead, several of yards away, the smoke cleared, and revealed Fujisaki atop of a large black boar. Confidently he cackled, and then held something out in his hand in plain view for them to see. Teah gasped at this, and Naruto and Sakura were stunned.

He was holding the green sweater Casana had been wearing, which by now was fairly ripped and burnt.

Jason saw this, and his eyes widened behind the eye holes of his mask and he reared back, his jaw dropping. No! The man had killed his mother!

Ripping the fabric to further taunt them, Fujisaki carelessly tossed it aside onto the ground, and came rushing at them on his boar, holding out his sword to strike them.

Beyond angered and raging, ready to kill him in the worst way possible, Jason was about to rush forward, his machete in hand, but Teah held out an arm to stop him. The three of them now stared at her in confusion as she brought her free hand over her heart, closing her eyes in concentration.

"Great power and wisdom of my ancestors, in my hour of need, grant to me the sacred Sword of Evil's Bane!"

Fujisaki was approaching, rapidly, and at the last second Teah performed a hand seal and they all disappeared, with Fujisaki running past the spot as if they had never been there.

--

It was a genjutsu, a two-way street. Making it seem to Fujisaki that they had now disappeared, and to them, that they were in a world of a holy light, with sacred spring water alit along the ground. It was so strange, but so beautiful, as if it were some kind of paradise.

Streams and orbs of light all rushed within the world, seeming to be some kind of a holy sign, as they rushed and swirled toward Teah's form, where she stood as if praying to the Gods and spirits above.

"Ancestors, hear my cry, and grant me the sacred sword!"

The holy orbs and streams of light flew over her and all came together in one bright form. Teah held her hands out to receive it, and the great light became a beautiful sword, with a red handle and long silver blade.

Facing the others, who were all standing near her within this strange but holy world, she smiled at them and held the sword up.

"This will help us defeat Fujisaki once and for all. It's the Sword of Evil's Bane, which was crafted by the power and wisdom of my royal ancestors. It's the benevolence of evil, a sacred blade that evil cannot touch."

She then knelt down before Naruto on one knee, holding the sword to him.

"Naruto Uzumaki, with the power invested in me, I, Princess Orivia Uchiha of the Northern Mountain Region, bestow upon you the Sword of Evil's Bane. Take it, Naruto. Wield it well."

"I...I..." Naruto couldn't believe what was happening, it was such a great honour, he couldn't believe it. He'd never felt so honoured in his life, it was...it was amazing. His heart swelled with so much love for her that he found himself fighting back tears as he smiled.

Keeping strong, he gently took the sword from her.

"I'll do it then, Teah-nee-chan." Naruto promised.

Smiling, Teah stood up straight. "Then let's go, all of us."

--

Back in the field, Fujisaki waited for them as the genjutsu disappeared and the four of them all reappeared in the same spot they once had been at. He cackled as he set his eyes on the sword Naruto now had.

"What an impressive-looking blade, but nothing more!" He mocked. "Well then, which one of you pathetic fools will come out here and even attempt to best me?"

"...Sakura, you guard Teah-nee-chan." Naruto said, and looked at Jason. "Let's go, Jason. We're gonna take him down together. Let's kill him!"

Hearing "kill him", which meant they were going to kill the man who killed his mother, Jason gave a slow nod in understanding before he and Naruto marched toward Fujisaki, their weapons in hand. They were ready, ready to bring him down.

This was the final showdown. Naruto and Jason vs Fujisaki.

"Heh, so you think I'm honestly afraid of you both?" Fujisaki said in a mocking tone. "You, a pathetic child with the power of the Nine-Tailed Fox practically given to you on a silver platter...and you, a stupid retarded horrific titan? You must be dreaming!"

"You can mock us all you want, but we're gonna take you down, Fujisaki!" Naruto promised. "This is for all the people you caused to die, for kidnapping Teah-nee-chan, and of course, for Casana-san. She may have been our enemy, but without her help, we never would've made it this far! She's done more for us than we could ever have expected, and we're never gonna forget that! You can just go to hell, Fujisaki!"

"Strong words for such a little man." Fujisaki said coolly, taking his own sword. "Too bad you're going to have to die here, and go to hell in my place. Heaven has no room for a monster like you."

"Overconfidence is just gonna get you dead." Naruto said, and then leaped toward Fujisaki.

The man laughed in reply and brought his hand up to stop the blade from striking him, grabbing the blade. His skin then singed and painful electricity ran through his body, he cried out in pain and wretched his hand away in pain. Since he was evil and had touched the sword, it was painful to him.

Jason then stormed toward him, ready to torture and kill him. He gently pushed Naruto aside so he wouldn't get in the way, and while Fujisaki was off guard from the pain, he swung his machete and swiftly sliced off his right arm.

"AAAGGHH!!!! AAARRRRRRRGGHH!!!" Fujisaki screamed, clutching at his bleeding armless socket. "YOU GOD DAMN DEMON OF HELL!!!!!! MY ARM!!! MY ARM!!!"

Naruto stared in amazement, and couldn't help but grin in triumph. "Oh no, looks like you lost a limb! Well, now it's my turn!" He summoned a shadow clone, which appeared behind Fujisaki, and grabbed him by the waist.

"What the?!?? The Shadow Clone Jutsu?!" Fujisaki cried.

"You better believe it! And now, this is for kidnapping Teah-nee-chan!" Naruto raised the Sword of Evil's Bane and sliced off Fujisaki's other arm.

"GRAAAAGGGHHH!!!!!! MY ARMS!!!!!!" Fujisaki screamed. "YOU WRETCHES!!!!! I CAN STILL WIN, YOU WILL NOT DEFEAT ME!!! NEVER!!!!"

Jason wasn't through yet. With the shadow clone holding him in place, he then swung his machete at his legs, slicing them right off, and also half of his groin. The limbs fell next to one of his arms, all flopping about on the ground and spewing blood.

The shadow clone let Fujisaki go, standing by in case he could do anything else. What was left of Fujisaki now squirmed on the ground, with no legs and no arms. He was nothing now.

"AAARRRGH!! YOU FUCKERS!!! I CAN STILL WIN!!!" Fujisaki yelled.

"Oooh, what are you going to do? Bleed on us?" Naruto laughed, grinning. "It's over, Fujisaki. You've got nothing on us now! Truth is, even with all your power, you're just a weak little coward, you know. Yeah, a stupid weak little coward. And now you're going to really pay for all those things you did! Bad deeds never go unpunished in Jason's book. And speaking of which..." Naruto looked at the slasher and grinned more. "Go on Jason, you can finish him off. Kill the son of a bitch!"

Not even taking note of Naruto's foul mouth, Jason gave a nod and stepped forward, his droopy brown eyes glaring down at Fujisaki with pure hatred. This man had killed his mother, and he was not going to let him live, not by a long shot. Now that he was nearly dead, it was time to finish the job.

"YOU WILL NOT-"

Jason cut him off by bring his machete down and slicing off his head, silencing him for good. He then kicked the head very roughly before he stabbed at the torso, in the heart, in the stomach, in the chest, just about everywhere. Although Fujisaki was now dead, Jason just wanted to finish him for good.

Standing straight, satisfied, Jason looked at his mother's-Pamela-machete, feeling proud that he had gotten revenge on the man who killed his mother. Naruto sighed in relief and looked up toward the skies.

"Naruto!"

He turned around and saw Teah and Sakura running toward them, both smiling fondly, happy and relieved that Fujisaki was dead and this was all finally over.

"Naruto, you did it! You did it!" Sakura gushed. "You defeated him!"

"It wasn't just me, we both did." Naruto smiled over at Jason, who glanced at him and titlted his head. "Jason finished the job though, I just kind of helped. But really the real person we should be thanking is Casana-san. If it weren't for her, we never would've brought this evil bastard to justice."

They all looked up toward the heavens. Despite she too had her share of bad deeds, they knew for sure a kind and loving heart like hers would make its way to Heaven.

"Thanks, Casana-san..." Naruto murmured. "For everything you did for us."

Teah and Sakura both made soft prayers to their fallen enemy-turned ally. They all stood silent for a few moments, as the hour of twilight washed over them.

"Naruto..." Teah then said, and hugged him. "...Thank you for saving me."

Blushing at her act of affection, Naruto grinned cheekily and hugged her back. "Hey, it was nothing, Teah-nee-chan! I had to do what I had to do. I never go back on my word, that's my way of the ninja!"

Pulling back, Teah smiled at him. "And that's why we all love you for it. I love you Naruto, I love you so much."

Even if it still surprised him to say it, and still surprised him to feel it, Naruto knew for sure by now, and there was no turning back.

"I love you too, Teah-nee-chan. I'm sure of it now, and for as long as I live, I promise I'm going to make you the happiest Princess that ever lived."

Tears pooled in the Uchiha's violet eyes and she kissed him fiercely on the lips, right in front of their onlookers. It surprised him for a moment, but he brought his arm around her waist, his other hand still holding the sword, and kissed her back. Sakura blushed and giggled at the adorable sight. "Awwwwww..." She cooed.

Jason watched the display of affection with great confusion, and on a strange note, fascination. He'd seen couples kiss before, but it always seemed to lead to a very immoral act, premarital sex, but these two were only kissing. It seemed so much more than just sex, it was something else, but he didn't know what. With a light shrug, he struck his machete into the earth and went to go move Fujisaki's remains.

"Well, isn't that touching."

Everyone stiffened and turned around to face the new voice. To their very surprise, it was Sasuke. Sasuke, in the flesh. The very Sasuke Uchiha.

And not only that, he was carrying Casana bridal style, who was very much alive.

"...Sasuke?!" Naruto gasped, pulling away from Teah and facing his friend. "....What are you doing here?! And-" That's when he noticed Casana for the first time. "...Casana-san!? You're alive!"

"Surprised, huh?" Casana said as Sasuke put her down. "Before Fujisaki managed to blow the place up, I was suddenly saved by Sasuke."

"Tch, don't think I did it for you, Naruto." Sasuke said hatefully. "I have my own reasons."

Glaring hard, Teah stepped forward. "Stop beating around the bush and tell us why the hell you're here, Sasuke."

Turning around to see what the commotion was about, and hearing a familiar voice, Jason turned around from where he was collecting Fujisaki's remains, and saw Casana, who although had only the collar of her sweater, was alive. He couldn't believe it, his mother was alive!

Not caring that there were people around, Jason rushed to her as quick as his never-ending legs could carry him and swept her up into the biggest hug he could manage. The Uchihas and Naruto stopped arguing and Sakura stopped yelling as Casana yelped in surprise and turned to see Jason hugging the daylights out of her.

"Aaaah!! J-Jason...! G-Good to see you too..!! Oww!! You're hurting me! Put me down!"

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at the hilarity of the scene, while Teah giggled, Sakura snickered, and Sasuke just stared, uninterested. Instead, he yawned boredly before he disappeared.

Setting her down, Jason just couldn't keep the smile he had behind his mask. He was just so glad his mother was alive and well, he could barely contain himself.

"Well hey, you survived!" Naruto said, grinning. "So, guess this means we're gonna have to go back to being enemies, huh?"

Casana gave a nod. "I guess you're right. I said I'd help you until the end, and well, now it's the end." She took note of Fujisaki's remains and nodded. "But, before I do, I have one last thing to do. We're going to send Jason back home to Camp Crystal Lake where he belongs."

"Awww...well that kind of sucks." Naruto said. "Ya know, despite everything, I'm gonna miss him."

Hearing the mention of his home, Jason gave a nod and placed his hand on her shoulder in a way to tell her that yes, he had to go back there. He'd been away for way too long, and he feared that teenagers may have trespassed there and made a mess of things while he was absent. He had to go back there, quickly.

"Luckily, Himetsu gave me the jutsu he used to bring Jason here and warp him to different places." Teah said, and held the scroll up. "Here, Casana, you do the honours."

Taking it, she nodded. "I may as well." She unraveled it, created the hand seals, and then slapped her palm against it on the ground. "Go Jason, return to that from which you came! ....Goodbye, Jason." A small tear rolled down her cheek.

Jason reached out to try to touch her, but in an instant, he was gone. Vanished, like he'd never been there. They all stared forlornly at the spot where he once stood. After all, he'd grown on all of them in a way. Especially to Casana. So although it was a relief to send the slasher back where he belonged before he could cause any more trouble, it was a little sad, since they were used to having him around.

".....Well, he's gone." Casana said, tucking the scroll into her pack. "...I'll miss him too."

"So will I, he wasn't all that bad." Sakura admitted.

"That big lug." Teah murmured, shaking her head. "...He did have a good heart deep within his killing ways. It was barely there, since he's become quite a monster, but, it was there."

"Too bad it's all over." Naruto sighed. "You know Casana-san, if we'd all gotten together under different circumstances, we could've been...friends."

Casana glanced at Naruto and smiled sadly. "....Yes. I suppose. ....Well, I'm gonna leave now before anyone catches us together. Next time we see each other, we're enemies."

Naruto nodded. "Right. ...And hey, thanks. You know, for everything."

"We could never have gone this far without you, Casana." Teah said. "Until you came along, we were just on a wild goose chase. Thank you, so much. We're really in your depth for all that you did for us. We'll never forget it. And even though you're our enemy, you do have a good place in our hearts."

Turning away, the brunette felt tears slide down her face. She wasn't used to such nice and kind words from anyone besides Deidara, Tobi, and even an occasional nice word from another member on a good day.

"....Thank you, Princess. Your words are kind and your heart is in the right place. ...I don't deserve such kindness from all of you. But...thank you." She wiped her eyes. "....Goodbye, I better leave. The ANBU are on your trail." She cast one last smile at then and her body dematerialized into vines and disappeared away toward the forest.

Just minutes after her departure, an army of the ANBU and Jounin, including Kakashi, all came over to the three Konoha shinobi.

"Hey, there you guys are. Are you all right?" Kakashi asked, and noticed Fujisaki's body remains laying around the ground. "....What exactly happened?"

Naruto grinned. "We'll tell you all about it on the way home, Kakashi-sensei!"

"It was quite a story." Sakura agreed.

"You'll never believe it." Teah laughed.

They all headed back toward the Fire Country on their long journey home, talking about the past events that had occurred, having to leave out a few things.

From a distance, a pair of ebony eyes watched the scene before slipping away...


	15. Epilogue

Well you guys, we are now at the end of this epic story! Gosh, it was sure quite a journey. A lot of changes underwent how the story was going to be, and this is how it ended.

For one, I got sparked of the idea to make a _Naruto _and _Friday The 13th _crossover, and I nearly just made it that Jason was going to terrorize Konoha. You know, kind of like _Jason Takes Manhattan_ (haven't seen it yet, but I know the summary), but I had absolutely no explanation for Jason being there. It made no sense. So since I try to make ideas make sense somehow, I had to think of something.

_Freddy VS Jason_ came into play, and so I went with an idea around that kind of line. When I started the first chapter, it flowed into what it is now. The killings, the mysteries, the stories, all of it. It's like it was writing itself.

Overall, I'm happy with how it came out. And I'm glad it's over, and yet I'm sad because it's all over. Oh well. That's what happens with works like this! Still, I'm glad I made it through to the end.

I just hope it wasn't too short. It seems all right, I guess.

Well anyway, thanks you guys for the support! :) Now enjoy the epilogue, and see, where are they now?!

--

"So...his name was Jason Voorhees, huh?" Tsunade confirmed. "He's from the United States of America, Crystal Lake, New Jersey, and he drowned in the lake of Camp Crystal Lake in 1957 when he was 11, and somehow came back from the dead and killed anyone who came back to the camp? Well."

"Yep, that's what we were told." Kakashi said, nodding toward Naruto.

It was nearly a week later, and they were all back in Konoha like nothing had happened at all. Naruto told Kakashi the story of Jason, while leaving out the fact they had been associated with Casana, and about Fujisaki and his plans. Himetsu, who was really rearing for freedom, told them things they didn't know, and thanked them for ending the life of his evil master.

Although they were back now, the adventure was still fresh in their minds, and Naruto, Teah and Sakura often exchanged secretive glances, knowing things of the journey that nobody else did.

"So did you get the message sent to Gaara?" Naruto said, changing the subject.

"Had Yule go to deliver it an hour ago, he'll have it when he arrives." Tsunade replied. "Well, you kids better go relax until the next mission then. Scoot." She made a shooing motion with her hand.

Saying their goodbyes, the three of them exited Tsunade's office where Neji, Kiba, Lee and Shikamaru were waiting.

"Hey, Naruto! Welcome back! Man, good job handling that mystery killer dude." Kiba said.

"It was nothing really." Naruto shrugged.

"So we're going to the BBQ Restaurant, are you coming?" Neji questioned.

Thinking it over, Naruto grinned. "Yeah, I'll be there! Just give me a few minutes, okay? I gotta sort some things out."

"All right, we'll see you there! Later, my youthful pals!" Lee waved, following after the other boys.

"Well, I'm going to get going too. I promised Ino I'd meet her and the girls over a the coffee place." Sakura said, and then turned to Teah. "...You're welcome to join us if you want, Teah."

Teah blinked, surprised at the invitation, and smiled. "Okay, sure. I'll meet you there in a few minutes."

"Okay, see you guys later."

"Bye for now, Sakura!" Naruto waved to the rosette as she walked away.

He then turned to Teah and took her by the hand, leading her outside where they went out onto the balcony overlooking the village, the same place where Tsunade announced that she was going to be the 5th Hokage of the village. It was the hour of twilight, the sun setting in the horizon, and with the view they had, it was easy to see.

"....We sure had quite an adventure." Teah finally said quietly.

"Guess we did, huh?" Naruto leaned over the rail, Teah joining him. "...And I guess I had a little adventure of my own, discovering that I felt the same way about you. ...Still, what about Sasuke? You sure?"

"...Well Naruto, I'll always love him." Teah sighed, remembering that dream she had. "But, it's time to move on, because I want to be with you, and since I can, well, I'm jumping at the chance. If you'll have me."

Naruto smiled at her, his hand inching over the railing, which he placed over hers.

"I'll have you anyday, Teah-nee-chan. I really do love you."

Teah blushed and smiled back at him. "I love you too, Naruto...I can't tell you how happy it makes me to know you feel the same way."

The blonde shinobi chuckled, and leaned toward her, and she leaned back, and they shared a kiss. In front of the sunset, and their first kiss since being back in Konoha, the first kiss of the new beginning of their futures together.

--

"NOOO!!! NOOO!!! OH GOD NO!!!! AAAGGHH!!!!"

Grabbing the teenager by his hair, Jason swiped his machete across his neck, detaching the head from the body before tossing it aside like a garbage bag. He then stomped toward the helpless girl, and didn't waste time stabbing her in the chest.

When he'd come back to Camp Crystal Lake, he was dismayed to discover that teenagers had indeed trespassed. But it was lucky in a way, since there were rumours about him being gone, missing. So they had come to check, and lo and behold, at the time Jason was nowhere to be found. Of course, they took advantage.

Bad move.

The minute Jason returned, and discovered them, he made sure to keep in the shadows and then kill them as he usually would.

It was good to be back home. Back where he belonged.

He sure did miss his mother, though. Although he'd forgotten most of the adventure, he sure didn't forget her. He didn't understand why she didn't go back with him, either. None the less, he pressed on to continue in making her proud and doing what he did best.

The locket she'd returned, was sitting safely in his pocket, away from anyone who would dare try to steal it.

"AAAGGH!! WE HAVE TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!!!" Yelled two more teenagers. Oops. Jason missed a couple.

No matter. He was the expert, after all.

Jason stalked after them, grabbing an ax from a nearby stump. He tossed it at one boy, and then threw his machete at the other boy. The ax struck the boy in the back of the head, and the machete struck through the other boy's chest, and they fell to the ground, dead in a few instances.

Walking over to the fallen bodies, Jason withdrew his machete, looking at the soiled weapon apprehensively before he slowly made his way into the woods. A fog had settled in, which happened often, since this was a lakefront property.

--

"So man, what happened then?" Suigetsu wanted to know.

"...Let's just say, I'll be getting back to them soon." Sasuke said calmly. "Really soon."

Juugo just nodded, deciding not to question it.

"Oh come! Tell me, Sasuke! Don't leave the juicy stuff out!"

"There is nothing to tell, Suigetsu. I finished what I wanted to do, and now we can move on, try to find a way to replace Karin's power."

"Fine! So as long as it's not another stupid bitch with a temper who beats you just because you said tomato." Suigetsu mumbled.

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke just continued to lead the remainder of his team out toward their next destination. He smiled in a malicious way, because eventually, he knew Teah wouldn't be able to resist him.

"Are we there yet?" Suigetsu said.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are there yet?"

"No! Shut the hell up!"

--

Sitting on the sand of the beach front, Casana sighed softly as she tossed a small rock into the water. The sun was setting, and off into the distance several yards from the shore, she could see the Orca whales swimming and splashing about. Watching them often made her smile, but today, she was just feeling really sad.

It was taking a moment to grieve over Deidara's passing, which even today still affected her. Sure, now Fujisaki was dead and Jason was back in Camp Crystal Lake where he belonged, but the death itself just didn't leave her. Nothing she did would bring him back, no matter how much she wanted it to.

This was their special spot that they had found years ago while on the run, a secluded ocean spot that people either didn't know, remember, or care about. She came here a lot, especially now since he died.

She wanted to be alone, so that the other members wouldn't see her cry and question it, question her strength. So, she came to her little retreat.

"Oh Deidara...." Casana sobbed softly, burying her face in her knees. "I miss you so much..."

A chuckle was heard behind her and she snapped up, turning around and standing up to see who had dared come to this place, when her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"So you did miss me that much, huh?" Deidara smirked at her. "I figured."

"...What..!? You're...you're alive!" Casana stammered. "H-How?! I saw you get killed!"

"Looks can be deceiving." The blonde shrugged. "But I'll tell you everything. See, I didn't actually die. Did you really think I would have allowed myself to be killed by the likes of that guy with the Hockey mask? Forget it. It was actually all a test."

"A test?!"

"Yeah, the Leader came up with it. For some reason, he wanted to see if my death really would affect your judgment to the organization. He says you're a well done addition to the Akatsuki, although he knows very well why you joined and all that. So he decided to put you to the test, to see if you were worth it. And sure you teamed up with the enemies, but you did a swell job in helping them defeat that loser Fujisaki and getting rid of that Jason character." Deidara explained, indifferent about the whole idea. "Frankly it seemed pretty stupid, but since I had no choice, I had to fake my death and see how you'd feel about it. So when you saw Jason killing me, that wasn't actually me. It was a clone. A special clone I came up with, to be able to fall under the pretense of being killed without revealing that it's a clone. I made the switch before we entered the park that night, when I said I had to use the bathroom."

"....I don't believe it. I don't believe it." Casana uttered, trembling. "I felt more pain than I had ever felt in my life all for a stupid TEST?! How could you do that?! I thought you were dead!"

"Hey hey, calm down, you think I actually wanted to make you suffer?" Deidara said, incredulous. "Truth be told, I'm not supposed to reveal myself to you for another week from today. I was sick of this, so I don't care if he beats me to death anymore." He went over to her, and held a hand to her cheek. "You know they say that seeing a loved one suffer can hurt more than physical pain? Never thought I'd see the day." She was resisting, but just a little more. Maybe he could kick it up a notch.

With a light smirk and he leaned to her ear, his hot breath against her skin.

"I sure missed you, you know...my little turtledove. I don't say this often enough, but I love you."

A blush rose to her cheeks, and she couldn't hold back anymore as she melted into his affection. Casana threw her arms around him in a tight hug, sobbing softly into his chest. Deidara chuckled and hugged her back, glad to have mad her succumb to his love, in his own little way, of course.

"God I missed you." Casana said, pulling back and wiping her eyes. "But don't you ever do that again! Or I'll really kill you, you...you...!!!" She couldn't think of a good insult. "Just don't do it! I will kill you, bring you back to life and kill you again!"

Deidara laughed in his usual way and held her cheeks in his hands, smiling at her. "I'd like to see you try." He then smirked again, releasing her. "So, aren't you going to punish me, to compensate?"

Her response was grabbing onto his collar and kissing him feverishly, all over his face, neck and lips, pressing her body to his until they fell back onto the sand.

"Leader's not expecting us for a week, right? Well you're not leaving my sight."

The blonde snickered. "That's a little bit much, don't you think?"

"Shut the hell up, you're in no position to call the shots. You're mine."

"Who said I was complaining?"

--

YES! Deidara is NOT dead! D I'm sure some of you may have already figured it out, but I really didn't want to give anything away until the end.

I actually did want to kill Deidara, so that Casana would have some motivation to coincide with Naruto and the others, but, being the big fluffball that I am, I decided to make him live. SECRETLY, until he shows up at the end. Well, surprise?

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this story. Thanks! :)


End file.
